- Date
- October 16, 1988, 14:20 local (18:20 UTC)
- Place
- Ridgeway, VA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N66RJPitts S-1S
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 11, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19881016068029A
- Case key
- 11479
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
The pilot landed to the south on the private airstrip. In an attempt to make a left 180 deg turn to back taxi on the runway and avoid acft parked along the left side of the runway, the pilot steered his airplane to the right. While turning to the right, the airplane traveled into a ditch and nosed over. The runway narrows at the point where the airplane traveled into the ditch.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N66RJ
- Reported as
- Pitts S-1S
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 779X
- Airframe hours
- 698
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-A4A, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Carroll Messer
- Registered owner
- C. B. Messer III
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · September 11, 1988 · 8 hours before
- Departed
- 41A · Mayodan, NC
- Airport
- VA02 · Pace Airport, runway 18, 3,000 × 200 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
- 57
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Center
- Flight hours
- 2,219 total · 555 in this make and model · 25 in the last 90 days · 7 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 180° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 75 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.