Overall Trends
Total, fatal, and serious accidents in the selected range.
Search investigations, review source evidence, monitor watched reports, and trace long-term patterns from one calm, data-first workspace.
Fast key and full-text search with live filters, watches, and precise metadata.
Use quotes for exact phrase matches (for example "fuel selector valve").
Track fatal and non-fatal accident patterns across Part 91, Part 135, and Part 121 operations.
Major cases, deep-report coverage, and investigation media across decades of NTSB history.
Move quickly by aircraft, airport, operator, and time with indexes built for research, not wandering.
NTSB Reports is an independent research and search tool for public aviation accident and incident records. It brings NTSB aviation reports, structured fields, docket files, extracted figures, photos, videos, and update history into one searchable interface.
The goal is practical safety education: make it faster to find relevant investigations, compare similar events, review factual records, and understand the evidence behind probable-cause and preliminary reports.
The investigative work and source records belong to the National Transportation Safety Board and the published investigation record. This site is not affiliated with or endorsed by the NTSB.
Biggs, CA
While seeding a rice field on the sixth flight of the day, the engine began to lose power. The pilot made an emergency landing in an adjacent rice field that was flooded and muddy. On the landing rollout the main landing gear wheels dug into the mud and the airplane nosed over. Examination of the engine revealed that the number 3 cylinder exhaust valve area had a crack that extended from the rocker shaft to the push rod boss area. No further anomalies were observed with the engine.
The broken exhaust valve rocker arm of the number 3 cylinder that resulted in a total loss of engine power during an aerial application flight.
On May 18, 2000, at 1630 hours Pacific daylight time, a Grumman G-164A, N5335, experienced a loss of engine power during aerial application, then nosed over during the subsequent forced landing in a rice field near Biggs, California. The airplane, operated by Williams Ag. Service under 14 CFR Part 137 as an agricultural operation, sustained substantial damage. The commercial pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions existed for the rice seeding operation and no flight plan was filed. The flight originated about 1615 at a private dirt field in Biggs, and was scheduled to terminate there. The pilot reported that this was the sixth flight of the day. He had refueled prior to the accident flight with 60 gallons of fuel, and was carrying a full load of rice seed in the hopper. He stated that the airplane began losing engine power about 15 minutes into the flight, and he was attempting to make a forced landing in an open pasture. Shortly thereafter, the engine lost all power and he landed short of the pasture in a flooded, muddy, rice field. During the landing rollout, the main wheels dug into the mud and the airplane nosed over. A Federal Aviation Administration inspector examined the airplane on May 15, 2000, at the owner's facilities in Biggs. He observed a crack in the number 3 cylinder exhaust valve area below the rocker shaft that continued through the push rod boss area. No further discrepancies were noted.