Waiotira - Waiotira

On September 8, 2001 at 07:10 AM, Waiotira - Waiotira experienced a crash involving Fletcher FU-24, operated by Private New Zealand, with the event recorded near Waiotira Northland Regional Council.

The flight was categorized as spraying (agricultural) and the reported phase was takeoff (climb) at a plain, valley crash site.

1 people were known to be on board, 0 fatalities were recorded, 1 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 0.0%.

Crew on board: 1, crew fatalities: 0, passengers on board: 0, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The aircraft was flown to a farm airstrip then loaded with a small load of agricultural product. A combination of extremely soft airstrip conditions, a quartering tailwind, and underslung spreader equipment, degraded performance to the extent that the aircraft was unable to become airborne within the available length of the strip. The load was jettisoned, but the aircraft struck a fence and scraped the ground with the left wing tip and aileron. The aircraft did become airborne, but was unable to be effectively controlled and subsequently struck the ground. The aircraft was destroyed and the pilot was seriously injured.

Aircraft reference details include registration ZK-CMN, MSN 118, year of manufacture 1966.