Thurston PITTS S-1S N3VT

Summary

On 9 November 2001 at about 00:15 local time, a Thurston PITTS S-1S registered N3VT was involved in an accident near Eatonville, Washington, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

9 November 2001 at 00:15

Classification

Accident

Location

Eatonville, Washington, United States

Coordinates

46.8419, -122.2444

Aircraft

Thurston PITTS S-1S

Registration

N3VT

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Puyallup → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

SEA02LA012

1 person died.

The pilot's unsuccessful corrective action (recovery) from an inverted spin. A contributing factor was the pilot's encounter with the inverted spin maneuver.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The experienced acrobatic pilot was practicing acrobatic maneuvers when the Pitts S-1S biplane transitioned from a near vertical, inverted stall into an inverted flat spin. The aircraft continued in the spin through 15-20 revolutions descending vertically until ground impact. There was evidence that the aircraft's canopy had been jettisoned during the descent as it was located relatively undamaged 150 feet from the ground impact site. The pilot's restraint system (lap belt and shoulder harness) however, had not been released. No control malfunction was noted during the post-crash investigation. Pilot records documented only one known reference to the pilot's having encountered an inverted spin, and this maneuver was referenced as an inadvertent inverted spin. An experienced S-1S pilot who had conducted inverted spins reported that the recovery process was characteristically simple and only required a release of the controls provided there was not a significantly aft center of gravity.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.