The pilot reported that, during a practice agricultural application flight with water, after overflying a field near Grangeville, Idaho, he pulled up hard to avoid a tall tree. He leveled out for about ¾ of a mile to build airspeed and initiated a turn to overfly the field again.
During the turn the Rockwell S2R began to buffet and the pilot said he knew it was a “pending stall.”
“So I push the stick forward to regain air speed and recover from the pending stall. When I lost about half of my height above ground, I tried to pull back on the stick, but the plane still buffeted. So I push the stick forward again until the plane was almost to the ground, at which time I was full throttle and the main tires contacted the ground and stayed on the ground for quite some time.”
The plane became airborne again and was approaching power lines, so the pilot banked left, “and that’s when the airplane lost air speed again and stalled.”
The plane hit the ground, sustaining substantial damage to the left and right wing.
The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
The automated weather observation station, located about 4 miles east of the accident site, reported that, about 5 minutes after the accident, the wind was from 270° at 4 knots. The pilot reported that after he exited the airplane, he realized there was a tailwind at an estimated speed of 10 to 15 mph. The pilot was flying to the east.
Probable Cause: The pilot’s exceedance of the airplane’s critical angle of attack while turning at low altitude, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall.
A dangerous environment in which to “learn” especially with this “trial and error” approach. Did this pilot understand the increase in “stall speed” that results from turning acceleration? (He also mentioned a “tailwind cause a loss of airspeed” – not!) The reviewers wondered if he could have jettisoned the water (load) to get better performance?
This May 2019 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
“Tailwind caused a loss of airspeed”—second cousin to the dreaded “downwind turn.”. How do pilots get past their initial flight test believing such crappola?
What’s really annoying is how someone like that even gets their hands on a turbine-powered Thrush.
(He also mentioned a “tailwind cause a loss of airspeed” – not!)…and then he spelled “Ayres” wrong on the accident report. Kinda says it all.