Event WPR12CA026

Factual narrative

The purpose of the flight was agricultural aerial application. The pilot pulled off a field to proceed to the next field 3 miles away. He diverted his attention to reprogram the cockpit GPS (Global Positioning System), and failed to retrim the airplane with nose up trim. While the pilot was reprograming the GPS the airplane entered a shallow descent and impacted the top of a small hill. The pilot was conducting an aerial application flight; he had just completed an application and was proceeding to another nearby field. He diverted his attention to reprogram the cockpit global positioning system (GPS) receiver and failed to retrim the airplane with nose-up trim. While the pilot was reprogramming the GPS receiver, the airplane entered a shallow descent and impacted the top of a small hill. 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 Environmental issues-Physical environment-Terrain-Mountainous/hilly terrain-Awareness of condition - C
• C Personnel issues-Task performance-(general)-(general)-Pilot - C