Forced Landing of Piper PA-36-300 HK1892 in Colombia

Incident Overview and Context On December 12, 2015, a Piper PA-36-300 with registration HK1892, owned and operated by Servicios de Fumigación Aérea Garay S.A.S. (FUMIGARAY S.A.S.), was conducting agricultural aerial spraying operations over banana plantations in the municipality of Orihueca, Magdalena, Colombia. The aircraft was scheduled to spray 47.50 hectares at the 'San Pedro 1 y 2' farm, located 4 miles southeast of Orihueca. It took off from the company's main base at 'La Lucha' airstrip (9LD1) at 07:07 local time (12:07 UTC), carrying 60 gallons of fungicide and 26 gallons of fuel. The pilot, a 56-year-old male, held a valid medical certificate and had 606:06 hours on the Piper PA-36-300 type. He had completed recurrent training and a check ride for agricultural aviation pilots on June 21, 2015. The aircraft, manufactured in 1977, had a total of 5,620:16 flight hours. Its Lycoming OI-540-KLG5 engine had 2,009:21 hours, and the Hartzell HC-C2YK-1BF propeller had 765:21 hours. Maintenance records indicated a 100-hour service on August 27, 2015, and a 50-hour service on October 17, 2015, with compliance to applicable Airworthiness Directives and Service Bulletins. Visual meteorological conditions (VMC) prevailed, and the flight was conducted under Visual Flight Rules (VFR). The aircraft was not equipped with a flight data recorder or cockpit voice recorder, as these were not required for this type of aircraft under Colombian regulations (RAC 4).