- Date
- July 14, 1983, 20:50 local (Jul 15, 1983, 00:50 UTC)
- Place
- Grand Haven, MI
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N3144J. Roberts Pitts Special
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19830714034369A
- Case key
- 12261
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
After a touch-and-go landing, the acft was climbing thru aprx 100 ft AGL when the eng abruptly lost power. A straight ahead landing was not feasible. While the plt was maneuvering to land, the acft impacted in a right wing low, nose down attitude. An investigation revealed the fuel tank was aprx 3/4 full with a mixture of about equal amounts of automotive & aviation (100 ll) fuel. About 1 oz of fuel was found in the carburetor bowl, but no evidence of fuel was found in the line leading from the eng driven fuel pump to the carburetor. Damage to the firewall prevented an accurate duplication of the fuel control travel limits at the time of the accident. The prop control was hard to operate, but the plt said that it had always been that way. No other discrepancies were evident. The possibility of fuel blockage, by vapor lock, could not be discounted.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3144
- Reported as
- J. Roberts Pitts Special (PITTS SPEC)
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- P2
- Airframe hours
- 350
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- J. Roberts
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Airport
- 3GM · Grand Haven, runway 27, 3,750 × 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
- 42
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 519 total · 100 in this make and model · 35 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 200° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 4 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 79 °F, dew point 70 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- MKG, 10 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.