New York: In recent years, expectant parents have gone to extreme lengths to create splashy, Instagrammable moments to announce the sex of their child. Some celebrations, however, have ended in calamity: an 18,000-hectare forest fire, a flaming car, a deadly explosion.

And now, a plane crash could be added to that list, according to a preliminary report from the US National Transportation Safety Board filed this week.

The wreckage of a crop-dusting plane that, according to safety officials, stalled after dumping hundreds of litres of pink water as part of a gender reveal celebration, near Turkey, Texas. Credit:FAA/The New York Times

A crop-dusting plane that dumped hundreds of litres of pink water over a field in Turkey, Texas, about 500 kilometres north-west of Dallas, crashed to the ground in early September, according to safety board documents. No major injuries were reported.

The pilot, Raj Horan, had been "conducting a gender reveal flight for a friend" when, after releasing about 1300 litres of water, the single-seat plane "got too slow" and stalled, records show.