- Date
- June 3, 1989, 17:56 local (21:56 UTC)
- Place
- Townsville, NC
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N1769Bloodworth Pitts Special S-1C
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 19, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890603014039A
- Case key
- 7851
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
Inadequate altitude for the pilot to recover from a spin. A contributing factor was his ostentatious display.
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
The pilot was performing aerobatics for a group of friends that were having a cook-out. According to witnesses, he performed overhead for 10 to 15 minutes; doing loops, rolls & stalls, and flew close to boats on a lake. Just before crashing in a wooded area, the aircraft entered a spin from which it did not recover. After impact, a fire erupted & the aircraft was destroyed.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1769
- Reported as
- Bloodworth Pitts Special S-1C (PITTS SPEC)
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- BP-1169
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Ernest S. Gann
- Registered owner
- E Sterling Gann
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 30, 1988 · 14 hours before
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
- 53
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Center
- Flight hours
- 1,600 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 220° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 90 °F, dew point 68 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- RDU, 35 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.