N474AW

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

On February 6, 2000, about 0905 eastern standard time, a Rockwell OV-10D, N474AW, call sign Bronco Two, owned by the United States Department of State (DOS), reportedly lost power during climb and impacted with the ground about 3 miles southwest of the departure runway near Larandia, Colombia. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time, and a company VFR flight plan was filed for the DOS public-use eradication flight. The airplane was destroyed. The commercial-rated pilot was seriously injured, after he ejected from the airplane. The flight had originated from the same airport about 3 minutes earlier.

The pilot of the lead airplane (call sign Bronco One), had taken off, and stated that after takeoff, "...I reported in the air...[the pilot of N474AW] reported he was initiating his take-off roll, I did not hear him call he was in the air, I asked him if he was in the air, he called out that he was having problems and that he had lost power on No. 2 engine (right). I immediately initiated a 180 degree turn to form up with him, it was at that time that I saw [N474AW] dumping his internal load, I caught up with him...on his right side about 150 to 200 feet above him and about one aircraft length behind him, I asked him if the aircraft was gaining any altitude and his reply was 'it's going in with me.' I replied get rid of the external tanks, it was at that time I saw him eject from the aircraft and simultaneously witnessed the fire ball as the aircraft impacted in rising terrain...I had seen the parachute open, but no seat separation...as I executed a left 360 degree turn I saw he was down and was moving."

A satellite imagery (SATLOCK Tracking) showing the flight path and speed of N474AW before impact revealed that at the departure end of the runway the altitude N474AW had reached was 864 feet [above airport elevation of 873 feet], or 9 feet agl (above ground level), and a speed of 120 mph. The highest altitude that N474AW reached was 1,171 feet (298 above airport elevation) and highest speed was 155 mph. The last altitude depicted was 149 feet above airport elevation and the speed was 118 mph. Just before impact the satellite data showed that the airplane turned to the left. (See the satellite imagery (SATLOCK Tracking), an attachment to this report).

The pilot's statement of events was taken at his residence on February 24, 2000. The statement was recorded with his permission, and his attorney was present. The recording was transcribed and the pilot declined to sign the transcribed statement.

According to the pilot on the first mission, the right engine chip detector light came on during the spray run. He called the lead aircraft and told him, "...that [he] had a master caution and...had a right chip light...we immediately broke off flying altitude and returned to base." At the time they were located about 40-50 nautical miles south of base.

The pilot said, "...we came in and I shut the airplane down...and went in to pull the power levers back to put the props on the locks, it did not lock on the locks, and that had been the third instance of that airplane not locking that particular engine...on the locks...a mechanic there he noticed that the prop was not on the locks. He looked up into the aircraft and confirmed that I had the power lever all the way back and asked me...had I moved them prior to the rotation and I said no sir and so he actually took up what I thought to be a can of W-D 40 or whatever while the one mechanic was checking...the chip detector and draining the oil of the crankcase he actually greased the prop locks on both props."

According to the statement of the maintenance supervisor, "...during the time the aircraft was in the parking spot to the best of my knowledge, we did not removed [sic] the prop spinners off either engine and lube the pitch locks."

The pilot said he never deplaned the airplane. According to the pilot, "...the mechanic had checked the airplane, and told me it was ready to restart, I was still in the airplane, still strapped in. I restarted the engine, the number two engine, the right engine and everything was normal, everything ran normal, I didn't get any bad indications from any instrument. I set the chronometer when the engine started. The [engine] ran for about eight and a half minutes...they had checked with me, I hadn't had any indications on engine instruments chip light...I proceeded to start my number one engine, and started it, got everything booted up, my SATLOCK, the whole nine yards. By the time we got all that running it was probably...about 7 and a half minutes into the second engine run. So on a lapse time of about fifteen minutes...everything was normal on my engine instruments and he [lead, Bronco One] proceeded to take off...once he took off, I pulled into position did a full power run up, everything was fine, and no fault indications. Everything was in the green everything was normal. I don't exactly remember the exact torque readings that I got on...takeoff, but they were within the tolerances...for the...temperature...so I released brakes and started takeoff."

According to the pilot, he rotated the airplane, pulled the gear up, but said, "...I don't remember...whether it was after I got the flaps up, but the airplanes are heavy, you lose a lot of lift and we had to climb a little hill and I tried to get the flaps, or bleed the flaps up as quickly as possible so it is possible that I had the flaps up I don't know l00 percent myself. The first indication that I got was that I felt the airplane start to yaw a little bit. When I felt the yaw I looked down at my engine instruments and my right engine was starting to spool down. When I saw that my right engine was starting to spool down, I reached up and I hit the hydraulic dump, to dump the load. I got a little mirror right here in the vein and I could see where the boom you can't actually see the dump occurring but you can see the refection of the dump and the boom of the airplane, so I knew I was dumping. I verified that it was the right engine that was spooling down to the right condition lever went all the way back into condition fuel instead of shutoff, and put in some left rudder trim to start taking up for some of the rudder pressures that I was having...or might have been right rudders, I don't remember, or I just retrimmed the airplane so it wouldn't have to holding so much rudder pressure. I checked the right engine and the prop wasn't set. I brought the condition lever back out of feather and the fuel shut off back up...I went all the way into normal flight altitude [attitude], but I cycled it part of the way out and then pulled it back, back into feather and the fuel shutoff to see if I could get the prop to feather, and it was still slowly dying and I mean it wasn't just a catastrophic failure or whatever it was just like it was a slow dying process. I was still at low altitude...one or two hundred-foot estimation above ground level at the spot after takeoff the ground does rise a little and I was turning...trying to turn five degrees or so into the good engine like I was taught to keep leveling low to starting turning into the good engine like I was taught to keep the left wing low and turning into the good engine. I was coming around to the left, and the airplane wouldn't climb. I looked back over my shoulder and the prop still wasn't in the feather and I brought it back out and tried cycling it one more time by this time the airplane was, I was still flying into what I believed to be rising terrain I couldn't gain any altitude, I saw a pasture...two hills, and my first reaction...was to ride the airplane in and try to belly it in on the second ridge. I realized part of the way into...the second ridge I was going to have to stretch...to the second ridge and I knew that the airplane was going to want to start torque rolling...with me and at that particular time I couldn't remember whether the...ejection seat, the front one went out to the left or went to the right but I didn't want to get into a roll of any kind of magnitude because I knew if I was rolling into the side of the seat...that I would just be punching myself into the ground rather than up in the air. It got to the point where...I said...I was going to make it to that second hill to be stretching the glide. I determined that I wasn't going to make it, that the airplane was going to wind up in that ditch. I looked down at the handle put my hand on the handle my left hand on the handle and put my right hand in my lap and put my head back against the chin-rest raised my chin a little bit and pulled the handle."

The NTSB investigator-in-charge (IIC) asked the pilot if while going down the runway did it seem that the airplane had rotated at a normal spot. The pilot answered "yes."

The pilot was asked what gave him the indication that the engine was spooling down. He said, "I got the yaw, I could feel the airplane, was yawing around and the engines stalled and the gauges on the right engine were just coming down. The fuel pressure was coming down, oil pressure...fuel flow...all the ones across the board were going down." In addition, he said no warning lights had come on.

When the pilot first explained the actions he performed after he became aware that "...my right engine was starting to spool down," he never mentioned anything about the emergency checklist or the action he took reference the good engine (left). When prompted by the NTSB IIC, he said that while he was trying to feather the right engine, that he applied "maximum power" to the left engine.

He remembered that the landing gear "was up," and he verified that the chemicals were dumping. In addition, he said the aircraft did not take on any different characteristics as the load was dumping. He said, "...it takes a good while for that load to dump out, it takes a little better ...