WPR23FA122 · Rockwell International S-2R
Jones Aviation Rockwell International S-2R · Accident: low altitude operation/event while maneuvering
From Willows Glenn County Airport (WLW) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- WPR23FA122
- 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 International 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
- N8424V
- Operator
- Jones Aviation
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Willows Glenn County Airport (WLW), Willows, CATo not recorded
- Aircraft age
- About 47 years (built 1976)
- 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
- Wire
- 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 › Psychological
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot departed on a routine agricultural flight to spray multiple orchards. Recorded onboard GPS data showed that after spraying three fields, he flew to an almond orchard where he made numerous north-to-south passes over the target area in a racetrack pattern at speeds of about 160 mph, and an altitude of about 135 ft above ground level (agl). Several seconds after he sprayed an area adjacent to a set of 130 ft tall power transmission lines that ran parallel to his flight pattern, he made one more lap in the pattern. The data ceased when the airplane was at the south end of the field while turning north, likely several seconds before impact. The airplane subsequently impacted a powerline and came to rest about 500 ft northeast of the point of initial impact, which was a powerline next to a tower. Postaccident examination revealed no preimpact mechanical anomalies or malfunctions with the airplane or engine that would have precluded normal operation. The propeller signatures indicated that the propeller was rotating at moderate to high power when it impacted the powerline. The powerline was found wrapped around at least one blade and the propeller hub. A witness recount suggests that the accident took place several seconds after the last flight data point. The pilot was familiar with this orchard and was likely not fatigued at the time. In addition, the position of the sun at the time of the accident would not have been a factor. Although a recount of the pilot’s flying habits indicated he was unlikely to have flown beneath the powerlines, the pilot struck the inside wire between two towers at about the lowest point, which suggests he flew under the powerlines. Thus, the accident was the result of the pilot’s failure to maintain clearance from powerlines while attempting to fly beneath multiple conductors during a low-altitude aerial application flight, which resulted in propeller contact with a powerline and a subsequent loss of control.
Probable cause
The pilot’s failure to maintain clearance from powerlines while flying under multiple conductors during a low-altitude aerial application flight, which resulted in propeller contact with a powerline and a subsequent loss of control.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record WPR23FA122
- Event ID
- 20230308106847
- Case number
- WPR23FA122
- 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: local date, investigation status, coordinates, cause areas. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 2023-03-08.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 02f2d22db4dceacce281198abd0c23907e7a3c7895accaf8448f6ba7175d10da; retrieved 2026-09-15T07:57:26.647Z.