Event GAA17CA459

Factual narrative

The pilot of the tailwheel-equipped airplane reported that, during an aerial application flight, after he had completed two spray passes, he received a call from his ground crew, which informed him that he did not have enough chemicals to complete the aerial application. Because of his heavy load, the position of his load pad, and the slope in the runway, the pilot chose to land with a tail wind. The pilot reported that he approached with a higher than normal airspeed and touched down about 1,500 ft from the approach end of runway 21. As the tailwheel came down, the airplane rolled over a depression in the runway, which unloaded the weight on the landing gear, and the airplane veered to the left. The pilot was unable to regain directional control before the airplane departed the runway and over an embankment. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right wing. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The automated weather observation station located about 14 nautical miles northwest of the accident site reported that, about 5 minutes before the accident, the wind was from 50° at 6 knots. The pilot of the tailwheel-equipped airplane reported that, during an agricultural application flight and after he had completed two spray passes, he received a call from his ground crew, which informed him that he did not have enough chemicals to complete the application. Because of his heavy load, the position of his load pad, and the runway slope, the pilot chose to land with a tailwind. The pilot reported that he approached with a higher-than-normal airspeed and touched down about 1,500 ft from the approach end of runway 21. As the tailwheel came down, the airplane rolled over a depression in the runway, which unloaded the weight on the landing gear, and the airplane veered to the left. The pilot was unable to regain directional control before the airplane departed the runway and went over an embankment. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right wing. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The automated weather observation station located about 14 nautical miles northwest of the accident site reported that, about 5 minutes before the accident, the wind was from 50° at 6 knots. 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 Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Directional control-Not attained/maintained - C
• C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C
• — Environmental issues-Physical environment-Terrain-Sloped/uneven terrain-Effect on operation
• — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Tailwind-Effect on operation