Cessna 337 N2489S accident near Pittsville, Wisconsin

Probable cause

The pilot's failure to maintain adequate airspeed which resulted in an aerodynamic stall at a low altitude.

NTSB analysis

The public-use airplane was being operated as a single-pilot aerial observation aircraft when it was responding to a ground fire. The fire originated from a garbage fire at a house that was adjacent to a wooded area. The wooded area was at the northern edge of a fallow agricultural field that the airplane was seen initially flying over on a southerly heading at an altitude of about 100 feet above the trees. The airplane then turned towards a northerly heading and descended to an altitude of about 35 feet above the field. The airplane engine noise then increased which was then followed by a wing drop consistent with an aerodynamic stall as it approached the tree line. Examination of the wreckage revealed no anomalies that would have precluded normal operation.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for CEN09GA242 for the full record.