What happened
While performing an alignment for the first spray pass on a 320-acre field, an agricultural airplane collided with two powerlines. The wires were suspended in a north-south direction approximately 20 feet above the cotton fields. The pilot was flying on a westerly heading over a mature, brownish cotton field and reported that he did not see the dull aluminum wires before the impact.
The collision severed the two electrical wires after they struck the top of the windshield, the upper portion of the vertical stabilizer, and the rudder assembly. The impact caused the rudder assembly to be partially ripped from its mounts, resulting in a significant right rudder deflection.
Following the strike, the pilot attempted to maintain a straight westerly heading, but the jammed rudder forced the aircraft into a right turn. Despite applying full opposite aileron, the pilot could not maintain control of the aircraft. After losing control, the pilot extended the flaps, and the airplane crashed into a cotton field in a right wing low attitude.