- Date
- February 24, 1985, 14:30 local (21:30 UTC)
- Place
- Fort Benton, MT
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N155LBBenjamin Pitts S1U
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19850224004299A
- Case key
- 16569
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 contacted a dirt bank during a forced landing in a field following a loss of pwr shortly after takeoff. A landing was made at Fort Benton arpt where the acft was serviced with 11.85 gallons of 100 oct avgas. Post accident examination of the acft revealed water contamination in the carburetor bowl and fuel system. A 1 qt jar was filled with fuel from the fuel line to the carburetor. A 17/32 inch layer of avgas was present on top of water which filled the remaining portion of the jar. The acft was refueled from an underground tank. There was no filterization element on the refueling equipment.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N155LB
- Reported as
- Benjamin Pitts S1U
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 001-84
- Airframe hours
- 514
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-A2F, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Leslie W. Benjamin
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Unknown · July 5, 1984 · 394 hours before
- Destination
- SBX · Shelby, MT
- Airport
- 79S · Fort Benton
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
- 30
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Expired
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 543 total · 50 in this make and model · 6 in the last 90 days · 6 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 30° at 20 knots, gusting 30
- Visibility
- 40 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 45 °F, dew point 36 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.