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LAX87DVA09 · Ayres S2R-T34

21 May 1987 · Mendota, CA, United States

Ayres S2R-T34 · Accident: in flight collision with object while maneuvering

From Mendota, CA to an unrecorded destination

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Event

NTSB case
LAX87DVA09
Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Accident
InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
Completed
API-reported fatalities
0 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
0
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
General aviation
WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
Visual Meteorological Cond

Ayres S2R-T34

Aircraft type
Ayres S2
Category
Airplane
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
N4012Y
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Mendota, CATo not recorded
Aircraft age
Not recorded
Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
Part 137: Agricultural
Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
Maneuvering · aerial application
First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
In flight collision with object
Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
Utility pole
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Substantial

Cause areas

  • Pilot in command › Preflight planning/preparation, poor
  • Pilot in command › Visual lookout, inadequate

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

DURING AN AGRICULTURAL APPLICATION FLIGHT, THE AIRCRAFT STRUCK A POLE THAT WAS LOCATED 30 FEET WITHIN THE FIELD BOUNDARY. THE PILOT STATED THAT DUE TO THE DAWN LIGHT AND THE WAY THE POLE BLENDED IN WITH THE FIELD ALONG WITH A LIGHT AMOUNT OF CHEMICAL ON THE WINDSHIELD, HE DID NOT SEE THE POLE TO AVOID THE COLLISION. THERE WERE NO REPORTED MECHANICAL FAILURES OR MALFUNCTIONS.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX87DVA09
Event ID
20001213X30956
Case number
LAX87DVA09
Dataset
historical-pre2008
Source SHA-256
89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
  • Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
  • Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: bcf0ab10d51c38d1b285339369271aae48bde7687c89b50bf4357ac8a32c7e8d; retrieved 2026-09-23T13:08:44.596Z.