- Date
- July 7, 1985, 08:55 local (12:55 UTC)
- Place
- Houghton Lake, MI
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N42RBBurch Pitts S-1
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19850707029759A
- Case key
- 13131
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 acft nosed down following a ground loop during a landing roll. The plt reported the tailwheel began to shimmy, directional control of the acft was lost and it ground looped to the right. The acft traveled aprx 10 ft off the rwy where the left wing dug into the terrain and the acft nosed down. Post accident inspection revealed the tailwheel steering springs were disconnected and the wheel had come loose from the hub.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N42RB
- Reported as
- Burch Pitts S-1
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 12128
- Airframe hours
- 97
- Engine
- Lycoming AEIO-360-B4A, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Robert J. Burch
- Registered owner
- Robert J. Burch
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 15, 1985 · 2 hours before
- Departed
- Y91 · Lake City, MI
- Airport
- HTL · Roscommon, runway 27, 4,000 × 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
- 57
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Center
- Flight hours
- 1,994 total · 92 in this make and model · 1,994 as pilot in command · 3 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 10° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 57 °F, dew point 46 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- HTL
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.