NTSB CAROL · Event
Event WPR23LA212
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot’s failure to maintain clearance from a power line during a low-level aerial application flight. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s fatigue.
Factual narrative
The pilot reported this was the eighth aerial application flight of the day spraying rice fields. He had made all takeoff’s flying low under a power line about 3/4 mile from the departure end of the runway. He stated that due to the monotony of the flights combined with fatigue and a bi-plane wing configuration, he lost sight of the power line and struck it. The airplane impacted the ground and cartwheeled sustaining substantial damage to the wings, fuselage, vertical and horizontal stabilizer. The pilot reported no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operations. 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).
- — Personnel issues-Psychological-Mental/emotional state-Boredom-Pilot
- — Personnel issues-Physical-Alertness/Fatigue-Fatigue due to work schedule-Pilot
- — Environmental issues-Physical environment-Object/animal/substance-Wire-Compliance w/ procedure
- — Environmental issues-Physical environment-Object/animal/substance-Wire-Contributed to outcome
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2023_WPR23LA212.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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