April 22, Queen Creek, Ariz. / Air Tractor 502

At 10:19 MST, an Air Tractor 502A lost its left wing in flight near Queen Creek, killing the pilot. The airplane was spraying chemicals on crops when the left wing separated during a level spray pass. No unusual meteorological phenomena were observed in the area and the airplane was not observed to have performed any unusual maneuvers prior to the failure. The lower spar cap was observed to have fractured at a point just outboard of the fuselage attach fitting.