NTSB CAROL · Event
Event ERA12CA495
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot's inadequate visual lookout and failure to maintain altitude during aerial application, which resulted in controlled flight into terrain.
Factual narrative
The pilot reported that while spraying a cornfield, he saw two wires that he did not know were there. When the pilot saw the wires, they were too close for the airplane to climb over them. He then flew under the wires; however, the airplane impacted rolling terrain below the wires, bounced into the air, stalled, and came to rest in trees adjacent to the field. Examination of the wreckage by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed damage to both wing spars. The inspector did not observe any preimpact mechanical malfunctions, nor did the pilot report any. The pilot reported that while spraying a cornfield, he saw two wires that he did not know were there. When the pilot saw the wires, the airplane was too close to the wires to climb over them. He then flew under the wires; however, the airplane impacted rolling terrain below the wires, bounced into the air, stalled, and came to rest in trees adjacent to the field. Examination of the wreckage revealed substantial damage to both wing spars. The pilot did not report any preimpact mechanical malfunctions that would have precluded normal operation. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12
NTSB Findings
Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).
- C Personnel issues-Psychological-Attention/monitoring-Monitoring environment-Pilot - C
- C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Altitude-Not attained/maintained - C
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2012_ERA12CA495.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 (stall, controlled flight into terrain). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- NASA NTRS 2026 · Conference Paper
Computational Analysis of Steady State Aerodynamics of Transonic Truss-Braced Wing Configuration in Deep Stall
This study presents a computational investigation of steady state aerodynamics of the Subsonic Ultra-Green Aircraft Research (SUGAR) Transonic Truss-Braced Wing (TTBW) configuration over a wide range …
- arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint
Automating Bird Diverter Installation through Multi-Aerial Robots and Signal Temporal Logic Specifications
This paper tackles the task assignment and trajectory generation problem for bird diverter installation using a fleet of multi-rotors.
- arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint
Variation of Critical Crystallization Pressure for the Formation of Square Ice in Graphene Nanocapillaries
Two-dimensional square ice in graphene nanocapillaries at room temperature is a fascinating phenomenon and has been confirmed experimentally.
- Flight Safety Foundation 2023 · FSF / AeroSafety World
Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT) — A 2023 Industry Refresh
Foundation 2023 CFIT data refresh — three decades after the original CFIT Task Force eliminated >95% of air-carrier CFIT, the GA + Part 135 communities still account for most CFIT fatalities.
- arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint
Polycrystallinity enhances stress build-up around ice
Damage caused by freezing wet, porous materials is a widespread problem, but is hard to predict or control. Here, we show that polycrystallinity makes a great difference to the stress build-up process…
- arXiv 2022 · arXiv preprint
Enhanced Prediction of Three-dimensional Finite Iced Wing Separated Flow Near Stall
Icing on three-dimensional wings causes severe flow separation near stall. Standard improved delayed detached eddy simulation (IDDES) is unable to correctly predict the separating reattaching flow due…
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