Rockingham Co., VA, tractor death

[dgl24087]

Rockingham County Farmer Killed When Tractor Flips
March 20, 2008 04:39 PM EDT

Authorities say a Rockingham County man was killed on his farm when a tractor rolled over on him. Police said 45-year-old Wallace Morgan Brown died at the scene on his family-owned farm Wednesday morning.
Sergeant Felicia Glick with the Rockingham County Sheriff's Office said Brown was pulling a tree and the tractor flipped backward. Glick said it was the county's first farm-related fatality this year. One-third of the 22 farm-related deaths in Virginia occurred in Rockingham County last year.
According to the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation, last year's farm-related deaths were twice as many as in 2006. Three people died from overturned tractors and four more died after being run over by tractors or other farm equipment.

 

[RoyJackson]

I wonder where he had rigged the tow chain (or cable)?
I'd guess this tractor didn't have a ROPS...sorry to say.

Even if he had hooked up to the draw bar, if the butt of the tree dug in...could that result in a rear rollover? I've towed a number of trees...nothing larger then maybe 8" diameter. The only thing happened to me (when they dug in) was a loss of traction.

 

[dgl24087]

Here's another news story, has a photo of the tractor. It's still difficult to say exactly what happened, but the tractor was not ROPS equipped. The photo looks like it was taken with the camera tilted, but it still appears that the tree was being pulled upgrade. VAFireNews.com - Tractor Flips, Killing Farmer

 

[Defective]

Looks like he was going across the grade. If so, and the log was below him on the hill, even a proper draw-bar hookup would be dicey.