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| Date: | Sunday 12 July 2020 |
| Time: | 10:10 |
| Type: |  Air Tractor AT-301 |
| Owner/operator: | Fumigaray |
| Registration: | HK-4968 |
| MSN: | 301-0347 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1981 |
| Engine model: | Pratt & Whitney R-1340 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Minor |
| Category: | Serious incident |
| Location: | Currulao, Turbo Antioquia -
 Colombia
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Agricultural |
| Departure airport: | |
| Investigating agency: | Aerocivil |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
An Air Tractor AT-301 suffered a loss of engine power while spraying a banana plantation. The pilot made a forced landing on a road, but had to swerve to avoid a car.
The car was hit and the aircraft veered off the road and came to rest across a ditch.No one was injured in the incident.
The aircraft was operating a spraying mission over the Monterrey 1 farm, located 12 NM NNE of the company's main base, Los Almendros, near Apartadó.
After completing the spraying task, the pilot reported, "Leaving the area and returning to the main base Los Almendros," and switched to the company radio frequency 122.9.
At 700 feet above ground, the pilot heard a loud noise accompanied by severe vibration in the aircraft, with normal instrument readings. The vibration then became constant and extremely intense, making it impossible to see the instruments, prompting the pilot to make an emergency call and decide to land on the road leading to the Currulao district.
For approximately 30 seconds, the pilot observed smoke in the engine and oil leakage with intense vibration; finally, the engine stopped. The pilot selected a spot for the emergency landing, controlling speed and initiating an approach to the road, which had traffic in both directions.
The pilot made a controlled approach and landing with minimal speed on a short landing, maintaining control of the aircraft on the road. However, during the deceleration roll, he encountered a vehicle in front of the aircraft, resulting in a collision that caused both the aircraft and the vehicle to veer off to the right side of the road, stopping off the roadway.
Once the aircraft stopped, the pilot shut down all systems and exited on his own without injury; the vehicle’s driver was also uninjured. The accident occurred in visual weather conditions.
The investigation determined that the serious incident was caused by the following probable cause:
- Emergency landing on a roadway due to total engine failure caused by the fracture of the master rod due to material fatigue, as a result of non-compliance with the engine maintenance program established by the manufacturer.
Contributing Factors:
- Non-compliance by the operator with the P&W manufacturer’s Maintenance Manual, as stipulated in their General Maintenance Manual, scheduling engine overhauls for the company’s aircraft at 1,200 hours, whereas the manufacturer specifies that this service should be performed between 600 and 1,000 hours for agricultural aviation aircraft.
- Incorrect flight hour logging and calculation system used by the operator, counting flight hours from takeoff to landing rather than from engine start to shutdown. This, combined with the excessive total hours set for major overhauls (1,200 hours), resulted in the engines operating under inadequate maintenance conditions.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
https://www.2020noticias.com/avioneta-aterrizo-de-emergencia-en-una-zona-verde-en-el-municipio-de-turbo/
https://www.vanguardia.com/colombia/avioneta-que-se-precipito-a-tierra-impacto-un-vehiculo-en-antioquia-LN2618278
https://lachivaalerta.com/antioquia/se-cayo-una-avioneta-en-el-uraba/
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 13-Jul-2020 04:35 | gerard57 | Added |
| 13-Jul-2020 04:38 | gerard57 | Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Operator, Source, ] |
| 13-Jul-2020 04:55 | RobertMB | Updated [Registration, ] |
| 13-Jul-2020 05:07 | RobertMB | Updated [Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Location, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 13-Jul-2020 06:01 | gerard57 | Updated [Location, ] |
| 03-Mar-2021 21:14 | rudy | Updated |
| 09-Jan-2022 12:46 | harro | Updated [Source, Narrative, ] |
| 06-Nov-2024 10:02 | ASN | Updated [Other fatalities, Narrative, Accident report, ] |
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