But It Was Just Too Late

The Air Force pilot of a Cessna T-37B apparently saw an Air Tractor AT-502B moments before the two aircraft collided on January 18, 2005. That's the word from the NTSB in its preliminary report on the accident, which was released on Thursday.

From the NTSB report:

Approximately 1128 central standard time, an Air Tractor AT-502B single-engine agricultural airplane, N8526M, and a Cessna T-37B, a twin-turbojet military trainer, tail number 66008003, operating under the call sign Cider 21, were destroyed following a midair collision during cruise flight near Hollister, Oklahoma. The AT-502B was registered to a private individual and operated by a commercial pilot. The T-37B was registered to and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF). The commercial pilot in the AT-502B was fatally injured.

The USAF flight instructor pilot was not injured and the USAF student pilot sustained minor injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and a flight plan was not filed for the AT-502B, who was operating under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 for the ferry flight. An instrument rules flight plan was filed for the T-37B, who was operating under Air Force Instructions (AFI) 11-202, Volume III. The cross-country flight for the AT-502B flight originated from the Olney Municipal Airport, near Olney, Texas, approximately 1100, and was destined for Huron, South Dakota, with an intermediate fuel stop. The local flight for the T-37B originated from the Sheppard Air Force Base (SPS), near Wichita Falls, Texas, approximately 1022.

According to company personnel from an Air Tractor dealership in Arkansas, the pilot was hired to ferry the recently purchased AT-502B to the new owner in Huron, South Dakota, with an intermediate refueling stop in Hutchinson, Kansas. Company personnel at the Air Tractor factory located in Olney, Texas, reported that the AT-502B was equipped with basic visual flight rules (VFR) instruments and was not equipped with any radios or a transponder. Company personnel added that the pilot had a hand held aircraft radio transmitter, a hand held Garmin 295 GPS unit, and various maps prior to departure.

During an interview with the NTSB investigator-in-charge (IIC), the USAF flight instructor and student pilot reported that they were on a routine mission training flight (C2803). After a non-eventful departure from SPS, they performed two normal overhead approaches to SPS before being cleared into the Military Operations Area (MOA).

Once in the MOA, the training flight completed one loop, a barrel roll, two power on stalls, one spin recovery, two spin prevents, traffic pattern stalls, and slow flight. After completing the series of high altitude maneuvers, the training flight received radar vectors to the RANCH intersection and then to the Frederick Municipal Airport (FDR), near Frederick, Oklahoma, which is commonly referred to by the USAF as "Hacker." As the flight descended to an altitude of 6,000 feet, the instructor noted the bottom of the overcast cloud ceiling to be between 6,000 and 6,500 feet mean sea level (MSL).

After arriving at Hacker, the training flight performed a straight in no flap landing, and requested left closed traffic. After completing a normal overhead approach and a single-engine landing, the flight proceeded to depart Hacker's airspace to the east and climbed to 5,500 feet MSL.

During this time, the USAF student pilot performed the en route portion of his checklist and contacted USAF Radar Approach Control (Rapcon) to notify them they were en route back to Sheppard Air Force Base and requested the "home plate" arrival. Rapcon advised the flight that they had radar contact, and to descend to 5,000 feet MSL on a heading of 100 degrees.

After leveling off at 5,000 feet MSL at an indicated airspeed of 200 knots, the flight instructor took control of the T-37B. The instructor stated that he briefly scanned at the student pilot's altimeter on the left side of the instrument panel (a standard practice for T-37 flight instructors). As he was turning his head back to the right, he noticed a "high visibility yellow airplane" out of the right corner of his eye. The student pilot stated that as the flight instructor took control of the aircraft, he scanned outside the airplane to the left, and started to look back to the right when he saw the yellow Air Tractor heading towards the right side of the T-37B. Subsequently, the instructor and student pilot recalled feeling a spinning sensation, and rolling inverted. Both the instructor and student pilot initiated emergency egress procedures and ejected from the aircraft.

The T-37B and AT-502B impacted farm fields about 3.5 miles east of Hollister, Oklahoma. Both aircraft were partially consumed by a post impact fire.

A witness located north of the accident site reported in a written statement that he observed an aircraft descending rapidly in a nose down attitude and on fire prior to losing sight of it behind a tree line. Subsequently, the witness observed a second aircraft spinning in a nose down attitude, and it was missing a wing. The witness added that a plume of smoke was originating from the airplane but he didn't see any flames. As the airplane continued to descend, he noticed two parachutes on each side of the airplane and he decided to proceed to the area to see if he could assist the pilots.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov