MIA08LA167 · Ayres S2R-T15
Cochran Flying Service Ayres S2R-T15 · Accident: low altitude operation/event while maneuvering
From Canton, MS (no airport) to Canton, MS (no airport)
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA08LA167
- 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
Ayres S2R-T15
- 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
- N4015P
- Operator
- Cochran Flying Service
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Canton, MS (no airport)To Canton, MS (no airport)
- 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 · low-altitude flying
- Defining eventThe 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
- Low altitude operation/event
- 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
- Tree(s)
- 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
- Environmental issues › Physical environment
- Personnel issues › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The airplane departed for a scheduled agriculture application from a private airstrip after uploading fuel and pesticide. Authorities were notified once the airplane did not return and it was noted the application was not sprayed on the intended crop. The airplane was located later that evening, approximately a ¼-mile from the intended area of application. The airplane impacted trees on a southerly heading, and several trees and branches were observed cut along the airplane descent path into a wooded area. The airplane separated into several sections during the impact sequence. Examination of the wreckage established flight control continuity, and all separations were from impact forces. All flight controls surfaces and its systems were found at the accident sight. There were no indications of any mechanical discrepancies to any of the engine’s components. Damages to the engine were consistent with the engine at mid to high power range at the time of impact. There were no discrepancies noted that would have prevented normal operation of the propeller. All damage was consistent with impact damage. The propeller was rotating and not feathered, and damages to the blades were consistent with operating at high power at the time of impact. Weather information for the times and area of the accident site revealed no weather conditions existed that would have adverse effect on the pilot and the airplane during the accident flight.
Probable cause
The pilot’s failure to maintain clearance from trees during low altitude maneuvering.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA08LA167
- Event ID
- 20080826X01314
- Case number
- MIA08LA167
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
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: 0488c9c55dc1e3aa756eaf49fcd73a864675edaf20ee1cd6aaf0202bdf873bce; retrieved 2026-09-13T19:24:04.260Z.