What happened
On June 8, 2000, a Piper PA 36-375, registration EC-EYO, was conducting agricultural spraying operations over a rice field near Villafranco del Guadalquivir, Spain. The mission involved applying liquid herbicide using a technique of parallel low-altitude passes. To ensure complete coverage, two ground signalers were positioned at the field boundaries to guide the pilot.
During the eleventh pass of the day, the pilot was flying at an extremely low altitude—less than two meters—to avoid chemical drift onto adjacent properties. An electrical power line crossed the field approximately 40 meters from the signal person's position, with wires hanging at a height of roughly 7 to 8 meters.
As the aircraft approached, the pilot observed that the female signaler, who had been actively using flags in previous passes, remained stationary and upright, looking directly at the approaching aircraft. To avoid the overhead power lines, the pilot performed a sudden upward pull on the control column. During the subsequent climb, the left landing gear struck the signaler, resulting in one fatality.