- Date
- March 1, 1992, 16:30 local (21:30 UTC)
- Place
- Reidsville, NC
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N517LPitts S-1
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 12, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19920301004559A
- Case key
- 8565
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
The pilot's failure to compensate for the tailwind and the improper touch down point. Factors were the tailwind and downdraft which resulted from the tall obstacles (trees) around the runway.
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 reported that a downwind approach was made to the airstrip . Trees bounded the approach threshold on three sides. On short final the wind across the trees, a quartering tail wind, resulted in a downdraft. The airplane undershot the runway & struck one of the threshold lights, as it landed hard. A balked landing was executed. Unknown to the pilot, the collision with the threshold light had collapsed the right main landing gear. On the subsequent landing the airplane veered as it touched down which resulted in substantail damage.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N517L
- Reported as
- Pitts S-1
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- BP-2
- Airframe hours
- 480
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-E2D, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Speer, James M. Jr.
- Registered owner
- Speer, James M. Jr.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · October 12, 1991 · 22 hours before
- Departed
- NONE · Boonville, NC
- Airport
- 6A5 · Warf, runway 35, 2,500 × 150 ft, grass/turf
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
- 42
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Center
- Flight hours
- 781 total · 22 in this make and model · 747 as pilot in command · 9 in the last 90 days · 4 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 230° at 14 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 63 °F, dew point 23 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- GSO, 20 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.