- Date
- August 9, 2014, 09:45 local (13:45 UTC)
- Place
- Lakeville, NY
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N893DCAviat Pitts S2B
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Collision during takeoff/land
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report October 9, 2014
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- FAA report
- 20140809012389A
- Case key
- 89854
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 decision to favor the right side of the relatively narrow turf runway while landing, resulting in inadvertent contact with tall grass and a berm.
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 of the aerobatic, tailwheel-equipped biplane planned to attend a fly-in event at the destination airport. As he overflew the 2,500-foot-long by 60-foot-wide private turf runway, he noted that numerous airplanes were parked along its left side, and elected to favor the right side of the runway during the landing. During the landing roll the pilot felt a "tickle" in the control stick, and the airplane veered right into the tall grass and berm located along the runway's right edge. The airplane subsequently rolled left and right, striking both wingtips on the ground in the process, resulting in substantial damage. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures of the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
The pilot of the aerobatic, tailwheel-equipped biplane planned to attend a fly-in event at the destination airport. As he overflew the 2,500-foot-long by 60-foot-wide private turf runway, he noted that numerous airplanes were parked along its left side, and elected to favor the right side of the runway during the landing. During the landing roll the pilot felt a "tickle" in the control stick, and the airplane veered right into the tall grass and berm located along the runway's right edge. The airplane subsequently rolled left and right, striking both wingtips on the ground in the process, resulting in substantial damage. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures of the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N893DC
- Reported as
- Aviat Pitts S2B
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 5182
- Built
- 1990
- Airframe hours
- 705
- Engine
- Lycoming AEIO-540-D4A5, 260 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Denair Inc
- Registered owner
- Denair Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Aerobatic; Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 10, 2014 · 4 hours before
- Departed
- D38 · Canandaigua, NY
- Destination
- NY15 · Lakeville, NY
- Airport
- NY15 · Lakeville, runway 19, 2,800 × 60 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
- 64
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine sea, Single-engine land, Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- February 23, 2013
- Seat
- Rear
- Restraint
- 5-point
- Flight hours
- 2,063 total · 1,000 in this make and model · 1,650 as pilot in command · 4.4 in the last 90 days · 1.5 in the last 30 days · 1.2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 100° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 66 °F, dew point 57 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.18 inHg
- Observed at
- KDSV, 15 nm away
Docket · 5
The files NTSB released with the investigation on October 3, 2014, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 11.2 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.