What happened
On the morning of February 21, 2001, an Ayres S2R-T15, registration ZS-LVP, departed from Nelspruit Aerodrome to perform agricultural spraying duties. The aircraft was operated for a crop spraying detail over a sugar cane field located on a farm near Barberton. The flight was carrying a pilot and one passenger.
During the operation, the pilot completed an initial spray run traveling in an easterly direction. To begin the subsequent pass, the pilot initiated a steep, nearly vertical climb to perform a wing-over maneuver. Witnesses on the ground observed the aircraft descending rapidly with slight wing rocking during this maneuver. The aircraft subsequently struck the sugar cane field in a nearly level, vertical attitude. The wreckage was located within the dense, four-meter-high crops by search and rescue personnel and the farm owner.
The investigation
The investigation established that the weather conditions at the time of the accident were fine, with calm to light winds. The aircraft was being used for commercial agricultural spraying. The investigation focused on the flight path and the maneuvers performed during the spraying sequence.
Findings
- The accident resulted in two fatalities.
- The pilot attempted to execute a high-pitch wing-over maneuver but failed to maintain sufficient altitude to recover from the maneuver before impacting the ground.