CHI05LA164 · Rockwell S-2R
Dakota Air Spray Rockwell S-2R · Accident: in flight collision with object while maneuvering
From Bristol, SD (private airstrip) to Bristol, SD
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI05LA164
- 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
- 1 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- 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
Rockwell S-2R
- Aircraft type
- Rockwell S-2
- 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
- N3211R
- Operator
- Dakota Air Spray
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Bristol, SD (private airstrip)To Bristol, SD
- 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
- Wire, static
- 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 › Clearance, not maintained
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The airplane collided with static lines during an aerial application flight. A witness to the accident reported seeing the airplane flying to the north-northeast, almost paralleling the power lines. The airplane then made a turn and contacted the power lines. The witness reported seeing the airplane in a left bank, but was not sure if the bank occurred prior to or after the airplane contacted the power lines. The airplane then descended to the ground. The static lines were strung between steel towers that are approximately 100 feet in height. Each tower has two static lines that are strung along the tops of the towers, each supported by its own arm of the tower. There are three main transmission lines running between the towers that are located below the static lines. One of the static lines was severed and the other was disconnected at the tower. The airplane came to rest inverted in a slough approximately 30 to 40 yards north-northwest of the power lines. The outboard section of the right wing was bent downward and the right wing section of the spray boom was separated from the airplane. One propeller blade contained a leading edge gouges similar in diameter to the static line. The right main gear was separated from the airplane and was located near the tower 24-373. The gear strut contained a series of impressions consistent with contact with the static line.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain clearance with the static lines between the transmission towers. A factor associated with the accident were the static lines.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI05LA164
- Event ID
- 20050707X00947
- Case number
- CHI05LA164
- 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, coordinates. 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: 434aca1a423925c594a4d014a2e801ae88006b7e98e17228229eefade071e73d; retrieved 2026-09-20T17:59:11.669Z.