- Date
- July 21, 1982, 12:40 local (17:40 UTC)
- Place
- Somerville, TN
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N31461Pitts S2S
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report July 21, 1983
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19820721035669A
- Case key
- 72646
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
Shortly after touchdown during a formation landing, the wingman's aircraft struck an engine stand that had been placed over a hole in the runway. The hole was located about 900 ft from the approach end and was about 2 ft long, 1 ft wide, and 1 ft deep. It was made when the nosewheel of a sabreliner had broken through the asphalt on the previous day. Flight service was notified that the runway was closed and a NOTAM was issued, but the pilot stated that the fss had not received it until after the occurrence. The memphis FAA airports district office had instructed that the airport be marked closed with an "x" across the ends of the runway. The pilot stated that there were no closed markings placed on the runways.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N31461
- Reported as
- Pitts S2S
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 1006
- Airframe hours
- 208
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540-A4A5, 260 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Howard M. Mullins
- Registered owner
- Howard M. Mullins
- Departed
- Arlington, TN
- Destination
- SAF · Santa Fe, NM
- Airport
- Fayette County, runway 18, 3,500 × 75 ft, asphalt
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 35
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 6,982 total · 310 in this make and model · 100 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 180° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Temperature
- 198 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.