GAA16CA313 · Air Tractor Inc AT 802 A
Thompson Flying Service Air Tractor Inc AT 802 A · Accident: loss of control on ground during takeoff
From Cairo Regional Airport (CIR) to Cairo Regional Airport (CIR)
Event
- NTSB case
- GAA16CA313
- 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
- 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
Air Tractor Inc AT 802 A
- Aircraft type
- Air Tractor AT-802
- 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
- N20361
- Operator
- Thompson Flying Service
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Cairo Regional Airport (CIR), Cairo, ILTo Cairo Regional Airport (CIR), Cairo, IL
- Aircraft age
- About 5 years (built 2011)
- 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
- Takeoff
- 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
- Loss of control on ground
- 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
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
- Personnel issues › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot of the tailwheel-equipped airplane reported that during the takeoff roll, the airplane "pulled hard to the left." He recalled that he applied full right rudder pedal and realized that he was approaching the end of the runway. He reported that he applied both brakes, he applied reverse thrust, the airplane exited the runway to the left and ground looped. The pilot reported that he did not confirm that the tailwheel pin was locked, prior to the takeoff roll. He further reported that in the future, he will confirm that the tailwheel is locked by working the tail back and forth, and he will check the tailwheel for inhibiting buildup of fertilizer, grease and dirt that would prevent tailwheel pin actuation. The right wing sustained substantial damage.
Per the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Safety Inspector that arrived shortly after the accident occurred, the airplane was dispersing fertilizer as part of a 49 Code of Federal Regulations Part 137 operation. The prolonged use of fertilizer coupled with dirt, will inhibit the tailwheel pin from locking in place. A photograph was taken shortly after the accident by the FAA Inspector revealing a canted tailwheel. The FAA Inspector reported that the mechanic that performed the inspection on the tailwheel assembly noted that the assembly was, "gummed up with fertilizer and the pin was not in place at the time of the ground loop.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to ensure that the tailwheel pin was in the locked position prior to the takeoff roll, resulting in a runway excursion, ground loop, and substantial damage.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record GAA16CA313
- Event ID
- 20160613X12301
- Case number
- GAA16CA313
- 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: 0ccd0cd211f03c253380ecb1d5d6f360cb50247432abd24c9665a61a095a426f; retrieved 2026-09-16T03:29:44.781Z.