Agricultural Aviation Accidents

49 CFR Part 830 defines an aircraft accident as:

An occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft which takes place between the time any person boards the aircraft with the intention of flight and all such persons have disembarked, and in which any person suffers death or serious injury, or in which the aircraft receives substantial damage.

An aircraft accident is required to be reported to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), who in-turn is required to conduct an investigation to determine the facts, conditions, and circumstances relating to the accident per 49 CFR Part 831. The NTSB uses these results to determine one or more probable causes of an accident, and to issue safety recommendations to prevent or mitigate the effects of a similar accident. The NTSB is required to report on the facts and circumstances of accidents it investigates, and produces a Preliminary Report, a Final Report and a Docket for this purpose. NTSB investigations are fact-finding proceedings with no adverse parties – in other words, they are not conducted for the purpose of determining rights, liabilities or blame of any person or entity.

An agricultural aviation accident is an aircraft accident wherein the NTSB determines that a flight is conducted under 14 CFR Part 137. NAAA and NAAREF track these agricultural aviation accidents using the NTSB’s Case Analysis and Reporting Online (CAROL) tool for education and outreach purposes. However, NAAA and NAAREF will sometimes exclude NTSB-listed Part 137 accidents (e.g. uncrewed aircraft, non-dispersal flights, firefighting) or include NTSB-listed Part 91 accidents (e.g. when aerial application is stated as the purpose of flight) in its tracking.

The NTSB has a classification system for investigation depth and final report for each event (accident or incident). Part 137 events are virtually all either Class 3 or Class 4. When NTSB issues a preliminary report, NAAA will differentiate between Class 3 and Class 4 investigations due to the fact that a Class 4 preliminary report contains no detailed event information. Consequently, Class 4 preliminary reports are given a status of “notification” rather than preliminary report.

ALL DATA IS PROVIDED FOR THE EXPRESS PURPOSE OF EDUCATION AND OUTREACH. NO GUARANTEES ARE MADE TO ITS ACCURACY.

Explore the Data

The interfaces linked below provide different windows into the data.

Summary: Current Year

Listing and summary by month, highest injury and investigation status.

Summary: 2010 – Current

Listing and summary by highest injury, investigation status and State. Filter by date, highest injury, aircraft type, engine type and investigation status.

Listing: 2010 – Current

Listing with extended fields. Filter, group and sort by all fields.

Recently Published Final Reports

Listing filtered for a Final Report release date within the past 90 days.

Category Analysis: 2015 – 2024

Fixed 10-year summary by accident category (human factors, CFIT, mechanical) and sub-category (e.g. powerlines, power loss, etc.).

Yearly Summary: 2010 – Current

By-year totals of accidents/fatalities, combined with aircraft population data from FAA’s General Aviation Survey.

Putting the Data to Work

NAAREF tracks and analyzes ag aviation accidents to direct educational and outreach efforts in improving safety for pilots conducting 14 CFR Part 137 operations. These efforts include:

NTSB Resources

NAAREF tracks and analyzes ag aviation accidents to direct educational and outreach efforts in improving safety for pilots conducting 14 CFR Part 137 operations. These efforts include: