N903X

On June 27, 1997, about 1125 eastern daylight time, a Grumman G-164B, N903X, registered to Howell Crop Dusting, operating as a 14 CFR Part 91 instructional flight, experienced a hard landing during a precautionary landing about 1 1/2 miles northwest of the Decatur County Industrial Airpark, Bainbridge, Georgia. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. The airplane sustained substantial damage. The private pilot reported no injuries. The flight originated from the Decatur County Industrial Airpark about 5 minutes before the accident.

The pilot stated he was on initial takeoff climb, turning to the northwest with 1,245 pounds of water en route to a practice agricultural spray area. He reduced the throttle and rpm to the climb power setting while reducing the turn and passing through 300 feet. The airplane started to sink. He added power without changing the airplane climb profile. He scanned the engine instruments which were normal. The airplane continued to sink. He turned left to the east, lined up with a peanut field, jettisoned the water, and started a precautionary landing to the peanut field. The engine continued to run, but the airplane continued to descend. He pulled the power back to the idle position and started to obtain a three-point landing attitude. He rounded out too high, the airplane landed hard, bounced about 40 feet across a dirt road, yawed to the left, collided with the ground in a left wing low attitude, separating the left main landing gear, and nosed over inverted.

Review of the NTSB Pilot/Operator Aircraft Accident Report revealed the pilot has 3.5 hours in the Grumman G-164B airplane.