Crop-Dusting Plane Nicked Ridge Investigators Of Fatal Crash Not Sure Why Pilot Was Too Low
The crop-duster killed Monday near Rosalia, Wash., crashed after the wheels of his airplane clipped a hillside, causing the plane to cartwheel and burst into flames, authorities said Tuesday.
Witnesses reported the plane was flying from west to east at an extremely low altitude before it struck the ridge.
A bystander was treated for minor burns and trauma after trying to rescue the pilot from the burning plane. Authorities would not release the man’s name.
Pilot Garland Bradford, 41, of Walla Walla, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash by Whitman County Coroner Pete Martin.
Bradford’s plane went down just moments after taking off from the Rosalia airport, officials said. National Transportation and Safety Board officials were on the scene Tuesday.
Sgt. Don Anderson of the Whitman County Sheriff’s Department said investigators are focusing on two possible reasons for the crash: that the plane was overloaded with fertilizer and Bradford was trying to avoid nearby power lines when he clipped the ridge, or that the plane was having engine problems and Bradford was trying to return to the airstrip.
Rosalia resident Genie Goldsworthy said some pilots have found the local airport to be troublesome.
“My husband is a pilot so we used to take off from there and it’s a real tricky place to fly out of,” Goldsworthy said. “It was unusual because as soon as you take off you have to go uphill. It’s not a nice flat runway.”
Bradford’s 1971 Gruman AG Cat biwing crop-duster was carrying 220 gallons of fertilizer, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
“We understood he had been spraying. How much of the 220 gallons he had left we don’t know,” said Art Jones, manager of the Spokane FAA flight standards division.
Crop-dusters generally fly about 100 feet above the ground and during spraying can dip to less than 20 feet from the ground, sometimes closer if the wind is blowing.
The airplane wheels are fixed beneath the plane, unlike commercial aircraft, which have retractable landing gear.
Bradford was well-liked among the region’s agricultural pilots and was considered to be a good pilot, said Linda Fender of Fender Air Service in Colfax.
Monday’s accident sobered many of the area’s other pilots, Fender said, including her husband, who chose not to go out after hearing about the accident.
“It’s surprising how it affects you. Even if you don’t know them, it makes you think,” Fender said. “It’s not like he’s only been out there a few years. He’s been flying for a long time. It can happen to the best of them.”
, DataTimes