- Date
- June 2, 1990, 16:30 local (21:30 UTC)
- Place
- Bartlesville, OK
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N434KStits SA-3A Playboy
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 14, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19900602018159A
- Case key
- 22955
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
An inadvertent stall.
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
Witnesses in the air and on the ground observed the airplane take off and begin a sharp left climbing turn at about 200 feet AGL. The airplane stalled, and impacted in a near vertical attitude. One witness observed one turn before impact. Another witness reported seeing rudder input prior to ground contact. Most of the pilot's flight time was logged prior to 1971. In the summer of 1988 he got N434K recertified, which was built by the pilot in 1957, and obtained a medical certificate. Records did not indicate any flight activity since 9/20/89, although it was reported he had flown two local flights during the last 90 days.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N434K
- Reported as
- Stits SA-3A Playboy (SA-3A PLAY)
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 1
- Airframe hours
- 192
- Engine
- Franklin YO-200-1, 90 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- James Edward Frost
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · September 20, 1989
- Destination
- 5F2 · Tulsa, OK
- Airport
- BVO · Frank Phillips, runway 35, 6,200 × 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
- 63
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Center
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 345 total · 192 in this make and model · 313 as pilot in command · 4 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 290° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 81 °F, dew point 46 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- BVD, 1 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.