LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Robert Ray Cottingham took off from an Attica airport in his agricultural plane at about 5:40 p.m. on July 22. He had about 50 minutes to live, according to a preliminary report from the National Transportation and Safety Board.
The 35-year-old pilot from the Otterbein area took off with full fuel tanks and the plane’s tank was full of crop seed, the preliminary report said, but it did not provide a conclusive cause for the crash that killed Cottingham.
Eleven minutes after takeoff, Cottingham began spraying two fields in Benton County. It was an ideal summer evening: 80 degrees, clear weather with 10 miles of visibility and a 4 mph breeze, according to the report.
The National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary report included a satellite map with overlaid GPS data from Cottingham’s plane, a single-engine AT-602 operated by Bi-State Air, based in Veedersburg.
The image shows the fields Cottingham sprayed in green and the flight pattern of his plane in red. The yellow arrows show his last flyover and the yellow circle shows where the GPS data stopped, the report said.
“Immediately prior to the accident, the pilot was conducting a trim flight from west to east on the south side of the northern field,” the report states. “The recorded GPS data ended during the trim flight. The accident site was in a soybean field approximately 0.45 (nautical miles) east of the sprayed field.”
According to aerial photos, the crash site was north of Benton County Road 800 South and west of Benton County Road 200 East.
The plane rolled over and caught fire, but rescue workers quickly put it out, the report said. The nose of the plane was pointing to the southeast.
“Maintenance records indicate that a 100-hour inspection was performed on July 18, 2024,” the report said. “There were no outstanding maintenance deviations. The aircraft had accumulated approximately 41.9 hours since the last inspection.”
The plane had five propellers, three of which were buried in the ground, the report said.
“The propeller remained connected to the propeller flange and reduction gear, and the rotor blades remained connected to the hub,” the report said. “The rotor blades exhibited compound bending and twisting from front to back in the rotation sequence, consistent with the generation of thrust upon impact.”
