Aircraft model
AIR TRACTOR INC AT-502B
Everything here is true of every aircraft of the type, not of any one aircraft.
The AT-502B is a turbine agricultural aeroplane: a single-seat, 750 shp taildragger with a 500-gallon chemical hopper, built to spray crops at low level for hours at a time. It is the most numerous of the Air Tractor line and it is working equipment, bought by agricultural operators and contract applicators rather than by private pilots.
It is assessed like a machine rather than an aeroplane: hopper capacity, engine hours since hot section and overhaul, airframe hours and cycles, and corrosion from years of chemical exposure, which is what ultimately retires these airframes. The flight profile — heavy, low, turbulent, with very high numbers of takeoffs and landings — is punishing, so total cycles matter as much as hours. It operates in the restricted category with the limitations that implies. It is a powerful taildragger and agricultural flying is a specialist discipline with its own insurance market that requires documented ag experience. The PT6 is the reason operators choose turbine: it starts reliably and runs a long time.
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- AIR TRACTOR INC AT-502B
What it is
| Seats | 1 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | taildragger |
| Engines | 1 |
| Engine | Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-34AG |
| Horsepower | 750 hp |
| Fuel | JetA |
| Certification basis | FAR23 |
| Production start | 1993 |
| Production end | current |
| Endorsements required | high-performance;tailwheel |
Performance
| Cruise speed | 140 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range | 400 nm |
| Service ceiling | — |
| Climb rate | — |
| Stall speed (Vso) | — |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | — |
| Landing over 50 ft | — |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 1 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 5,300 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | 4,188 lb |
| Max takeoff weight | 9,400 lb |
| Empty weight | 4,100 lb |
| Usable fuel | 166 gal |
| Fuel burn at cruise | 52 gal/h |
Cost of ownership
| Price, low | $550,000 |
|---|---|
| Price, high | $1,500,000 |
| Prices as of | 2026 |
| Engine TBO | 3,600 h |
| Overhaul cost, low | $340,000 |
| Overhaul cost, high | $510,000 |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 576 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 328 |
| Median year built | 2008.0 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 55 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 16 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | 167.681 |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | 3.052 |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 73 |
| Transfers per 100 active | 22.263 |
| Airworthiness directives | 14 |
| Directives, last 5 years | 0 |
| Rate confidence | ok |
- Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 328 active.
- Personal-flying events per 1,000 active: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 328 active.
- Transfers per 100 active: per 100 active aircraft · base 328 active.
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing single-engine, turbo-prop, 1 engine, 1-2 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | 1.1 of 101 |
| Severity | 3 of 102 |
| Access | 6 of 103 |
| Support | 10 of 104 |
| Liquidity | 4.4 of 105 |
| Overall (sum of the categories shown) | 24.5 out of 506 |
- Accident record: class median 0 · 10 models in class.
- Severity: class median 25.53.
- Access: class median 6,509.
- Support: class median 78.
- Liquidity: class median 23.47.
- Each of the five categories places the model within its peer class, from 0 (the worst of the class) to 10 (the best): a position among comparable models, not a grade. The overall score is the sum of the categories shown that are scored, out of 10 for each (50 when all five are); it is given only when at least 4 of the five are scored, and it can be set against another model's only when both are in the same peer class and scored on the same categories.