NTSB CAROL · Event
Event CHI94LA218
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
the pilot's failure to maintain clearance from the wheat field. A factor was the turbulence.
Factual narrative
On July 1, 1994, about 1600 central daylight time, a Callair A9B airplane, N2851F, operated by Pietsch Spraying Inc. of Minot, North Dakota, sustained substantial damage when it collided with terrain 12 miles southwest of Minot. The commercial pilot sustained no injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the aerial application flight conducted under CFR 14 Part 137. The local flight originated at Minot International Airport about 1530. No flight plan was filed. The pilot reported the airplane was equipped with "super booms" which trail beneath the airplane. He said he was flying low to optimize spraying along the side of a hill. On the fourth pass he "went through a whirlwind and stuck the boom in the wheat." He said the airplane swung around, impacted the terrain, and stopped in approximately 300 feet. THE PILOT REPORTED HE WAS FLYING AN AERIAL APPLICATION SWATH RUN ALONG THE SIDE OF A HILL. HE SAID HE FLEW THROUGH A WHIRLWIND AND THE BOOM STRUCK THE WHEAT. THE AIRPLANE SWUNG AROUND AND STOPPED IN APPROXIMATELY 300 FEET Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1994_CHI94LA218.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (turbulence). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- arXiv 2026 · arXiv preprint
Direct Numerical Simulations of Ice-Ocean Boundary Turbulence
Turbulent heat and freshwater transport at ice-ocean interfaces controls glacier and iceberg melt rates, yet the underlying physics remains poorly constrained.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2025 · Journal article (JAAER)
Political Turbulence and Aviation Safety: A Cross-National Analysis of Political Stability's Effects on Aviation Accidents
To what extent does political stability affect aviation safety? This research aims to link domestic political conditions and public safety through the consideration of aviation accident frequency.
- arXiv 2025 · arXiv preprint
Explainable LiDAR 3D Point Cloud Segmentation and Clustering for Detecting Airplane-Generated Wind Turbulence
Wake vortices - strong, coherent air turbulences created by aircraft - pose a significant risk to aviation safety and therefore require accurate and reliable detection methods.
- arXiv 2024 · arXiv preprint
Does small-scale turbulence matter for ice growth in mixed-phase clouds?
Representing the glaciation of mixed-phase clouds in terms of the Wegener-Bergeron-Findeisen process is a challenge for many weather and climate models, which tend to overestimate this process because…
- arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint
Effects of electrostatic interaction on clustering and collision of bidispersed inertial particles in homogeneous and isotropic turbulence
In sandstorms and thunderclouds, turbulence-induced collisions between solid particles and ice crystals lead to inevitable triboelectrification.
- SKYbrary (Eurocontrol) 2023 · SKYbrary article
Wake Vortex Turbulence — SKYbrary Knowledge Base
SKYbrary wake vortex turbulence comprehensive article — generation mechanics, dissipation factors, separation standards (ICAO LIGHT/MEDIUM/HEAVY/SUPER + recategorisation RECAT-EU).
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗