2 Apr 2012: AIR TRACTOR INC AT-402A — NELSON FLYING SERVICE

2 Apr 2012: AIR TRACTOR INC AT-402A — NELSON FLYING SERVICE

No fatalities • Ganado, TX, United States

Probable cause

The improper positioning of the hopper vent, which allowed chemicals to escape and cover the airplane's windshield.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

On the day before the accident, the pilot installed dry fertilizer equipment on the airplane. Later that afternoon, the pilot removed the dry fertilizer equipment and installed spray booms and a spray pump in preparation for dispensing a liquid chemical the next day. The following day, during the takeoff roll, chemical started covering the windshield. The windshield washer had no effect. The pilot lost all outside visual references and was unable to maintain level flight. The airplane impacted the ground and slid to a stop. Postaccident examination revealed the hopper vent had not been turned around. The hopper was still pressurized and chemical blew out of the hopper lid onto the windshield.

Contributing factors

  • Damaged/degraded
  • cause Incorrect use/operation
  • cause Pilot

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 140/05kt, vis 10sm

Loading the flight search…

What you can do on Flight Finder

  • Search flights between any two airports with live fares.
  • By aircraft — pick a plane model (e.g. Boeing 787, Airbus A350) and see every route it flies from your origin.
  • Route map — click any airport worldwide to explore its destinations, or draw a radius to find nearby airports.
  • Global aviation safety — aviation accident database, 5,200+ records since 1980, with map and rankings by aircraft and operator.
  • NTSB safety feed — recent U.S. aviation accidents and incidents from the official NTSB CAROL database, updated daily.

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.