According to Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Marc Owen, Tidwell was spraying a pesticide over the field Thursday morning when he crashed into a wind tower. The tower, a 400-foot structure erected to collect wind data, sheared off a piece of the plane's wing.
According to Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Marc Owen, Tidwell was spraying a pesticide over the field Thursday morning when he crashed into a wind tower. The tower, a 400-foot structure erected to collect wind data, sheared off a piece of the plane's wing.
A crop duster hit a tower and crashed into a Crosby County cotton field Thursday morning, killing the pilot, Federal Aviation Administration officials said.
The pilot and only occupant of the Air Tractor AT-602, Bill Wade Tidwell, 55, of Ransom Canyon, was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, Crosby County Judge Joe Heflin said.
Tidwell operated McAdoo Flying Service, a commercial agriculture spraying business based at the Crosby County Airport.
The crash occurred about 9:44 a.m. in a plowed cotton field south of FM 40 and County Road 183.
According to Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Marc Owen, Tidwell was spraying a pesticide over the field Thursday morning when he crashed into a wind tower.
The tower, a …
... more [truncated due to possible copyright]A crop duster hit a tower and crashed into a Crosby County cotton field Thursday morning, killing the pilot, Federal Aviation Administration officials said.
The pilot and only occupant of the Air Tractor AT-602, Bill Wade Tidwell, 55, of Ransom Canyon, was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, Crosby County Judge Joe Heflin said.
Tidwell operated McAdoo Flying Service, a commercial agriculture spraying business based at the Crosby County Airport.
The crash occurred about 9:44 a.m. in a plowed cotton field south of FM 40 and County Road 183.
According to Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Marc Owen, Tidwell was spraying a pesticide over the field Thursday morning when he crashed into a wind tower.
The tower, a 400-foot structure erected to collect wind data, sheared off a piece of the plane's wing.
"It had only been there a short time," Owen said of the tower that was built within the last four weeks.
The plane then went into a nose dive and crashed a quarter mile northeast of the tower.
The impact of the crash ejected Tidwell, throwing him 20 or 30 yards from the plane.
A farmer noticed the smoke emanating from the field and notified Tidwell's son, who later discovered the wreckage and reported it to authorities, Owen said.
No one could be reached at McAdoo Flying Service on Thursday.
The FAA is investigating the crash.
Roland Herwig, an FAA spokesman, said preliminary results of the investigation could be available in as little as two months or could take up to a year.
Thursday's fatal plane crash was the second on the South Plains over the last six months.
Timothy Vaughn and his 8-year-old daughter died Jan. 20 when their single-engine prop plane crashed into a Hale County cotton field.
Lubbock surgeon Mike Marshall was killed Dec. 17 when the twin-engine plane he piloted crashed into a clearing just east of Yellow House Canyon.