- Date
- October 19, 2024, 16:30 local (21:30 UTC)
- Place
- Stoughton, WI
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N11JCPitts S-2A
- Defining event
- Landing: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA FSDO
- Case key
- 195360
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 maintain directional control during landing.
Findings · 4
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The pilot reported that while performing a touch and go landing to a private turf strip and due to forward visibility limitations in the airplane, he was in a slip during approach with the left rudder applied and the right wing in a low attitude. The wind was from the southwest at 8 to 10 knots, and he maneuvered the airplane to land to the north. The pilot stated that during the touchdown, the airplane pulled to the left, and the left wing contacted tall grass on the left side of the runway, which pulled the airplane further to the left. The pilot then lost airplane control and was unable to remain on the turf strip. The airplane came to rest upright in the grass. The airplane sustained substantial damage to both wings. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures that contributed to the accident, but thought the brake might have locked up during the landing. The reported brake issue could not be substantiated, and further information could not be obtained from the pilot. The pilot did not possess a rating for single-engine land airplanes but had flown 2,159 hours in single-engine airplanes and 174 hours in the accident airplane make and model. The pilot’s most recent flight review was about 5 years prior to the accident.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N11JC
- Reported as
- Pitts S-2A
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 2185
- Built
- 1978
- Airframe hours
- 499
- Engine
- Lycoming AEIO-360-A1A, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Aerobatic
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 30, 2024
- Airport
- PVT · Private, runway 36, 2,000 × 100 ft, grass/turf
- Equipment
- Stall warning system
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
- 89
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land
- Last flight review
- June 30, 2019
- Seat
- Rear
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 7,354 total · 174 in this make and model · 7,354 as pilot in command · 5.8 in the last 90 days · 0.4 in the last 30 days · 0.3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Variable at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 30,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 72 °F, dew point 36 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.34 inHg
- Observed at
- KMSN, 13 nm away
- METAR
- KMSN 192053Z VRB05KT 10SM BKN300 22/02 A3034 RMK AO2 SLP275 T02220022 56016
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on March 20, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.1 MB in all.