Snow 600-S2C accident near Bickleton, Washington, March 13, 1998
On March 13, 1998 at about 6:30 pm local time, a Snow 600-S2C, registered N1640S, was destroyed in an accident near Bickleton, Washington. It was an aerial application (crop spraying) flight under agricultural flying rules (Part 137). No one was hurt; 1 person was on board or involved. The weather was visual conditions (good weather).
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The NTSB's probable cause their words, unchanged
The pilot's mismanagement of the fuel which led to fuel exhaustion. A related factor was unsuitable terrain.
Source: NTSB aviation accident database, copy made October 4, 2026. Docket and reports at the NTSB.
What the record shows
- Date
- March 13, 1998 · about 6:30 pm local time
- Place
- Bickleton, Washington · map
- Type
- Accident
- Injuries
- No one was hurt; 1 person was on board or involved.
- Weather
- visual conditions (good weather)
- Aircraft
- Snow 600-S2C · all 600-S2Cs on the register
- Registration
- N1640S · no longer on the register · serial 600-1189C
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Aerial application (crop spraying) flight · agricultural flying rules (Part 137)
The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record
The pilot took off 50 minutes to 1 hour before the accident, and was spraying a field at the time of the accident. He reported that on the last pass, as he was pulling up, the engine lost power in a left turn. He performed a forced landing onto rough and uneven terrain; and the aircraft was substantially damaged. The aircraft salvage crew who recovered the aircraft reported that they found 3 gallons of fuel in the aircraft's left wing tank and no fuel in the right wing tank (the aircraft has a 33-gallon tank in each wing, of which 6.5 gallons in each tank is unusable.)
The complete narrative as the NTSB published it. The NTSB's docket holds the report as a PDF and any photographs, statements and other documents from the investigation.
The factual record from the NTSB's investigation tables, in plain English
Pilot
- Certificate: commercial pilot
- Ratings: multi-engine land; single-engine land; instructor: airplane single-engine; instrument: airplane; rotorcraft: glider; rotorcraft: helicopter
- Flight time: 2,753 hours in all; 115 in this make and model; 115 in the last 90 days; 2,468 as pilot in command; 41 on instruments
- Medical certificate: Class 2 (valid medical--no waivers/lim.)
- Seat: unk
The aircraft
- Airframe total time: 6,996 hours
- Last inspection: annual inspection, February 1, 1998; 7 hours since
- Maximum gross weight: 3,600 lb
- Seats: 1
- Landing gear: fixed
- Engine: P&W R-1340-AN1 (piston); 0 hours total
The flight
- Departed from: Donoho Road WA at 5:30 pm
- Destination: Unknown
- Flight plan: none
- Runway 0
Weather at the time
- Light: daylight
- Visibility: 10 statute miles
- Sky: clear
- Temperature: 57°F (14°C), dew point 57°F (14°C)
Injuries
| Fatal | Serious | Minor | None | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crew | 1 |
Documents from the investigation the NTSB's docket: the evidence folder behind the report
The docket, the folder of records gathered during an investigation (maintenance records, photographs, witness statements, examinations), has not been read from the NTSB for this case yet; the list appears here once it has. Open the docket at the NTSB.
About this page
Everything above comes from the NTSB's public accident database: the narrative, probable cause and findings are the NTSB's own words, and the coded tables behind its report (pilot, aircraft, flight, weather, injuries, sequence of events) are written out in plain English. Pilots' ages, home towns and medical details are left out on purpose. The documents and photographs are the NTSB's docket, the folder of records gathered during the investigation, shown as the NTSB released them (the NTSB redacts some personal details first) and listed under the NTSB's own titles. This site's own text never names pilots, passengers or anyone else involved. A preliminary report describes what is known soon after the event and can change; the final report, with the probable cause, usually follows one to two years later and this page is refreshed when it does. Case number SEA98LA054.