- Date
- August 19, 1995, 10:32 local (17:32 UTC)
- Place
- Goodyear, AZ
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N7RGGettig Pitts Special S1C
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 29, 1996
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19950819025699A
- Case key
- 29192
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 owner/builder's improper installation of the fuel injection system unit by misaligning the drive shaft that resulted in the fracture of the shaft. The road sign was a factor in this accident.
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 pilot was practicing aerobatics when the engine sustained a total loss of power. The surrounding terrain was bush and brush covered and the pilot elected to land on a road. The pilot successfully landed on the road but collided with a road sign when the road curved. Examination of the engine disclosed that the pilot installed electronic fuel injection drive shaft fractured. The drive shaft was found misaligned in the engine accessory case.
Factual narrative
On August 19, 1995, at 1032 hours mountain standard time, a Gettig Pitts Special S1C, collided with a road sign after executing an emergency landing about 9 miles south of Goodyear Airport, Goodyear, Arizona. The emergency landing was precipitated by a total loss of engine power. The pilot was conducting a local visual flight rules aerobatic flight. The airplane, registered to and operated by the pilot, sustained substantial damage. The pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. The flight originated at Goodyear Airport at 1000 hours.
The pilot reported in a telephone interview conducted on August 19, 1995, that he was practicing aerobatic maneuvers. After completing a maneuver, while at level flight, the propeller "stopped."
The pilot selected a nearby road and successfully landed on the road. During the landing roll-out, the road began to curve to the left. The pilot was unable to see over the airplane nose (he was looking to the left) and the right wing struck a road sign.
A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airworthiness inspector from the Scottsdale [Arizona] Flight Standards District Office examined the engine. The inspector reported that the pilot installed an electronic fuel injection system. He mounted the drive unit on the engine accessory case.
After the pilot installed the system, he sent the engine for repairs that included resurfacing the crankcase halves. The pilot reinstalled the electronic fuel injection system, but he did not check the system drive shaft for proper alignment. The inspector said that the crankcase resurfacing caused a misalignment of the drive shaft.
The postaccident examination of the wreckage revealed that the fuel injection system drive shaft failed.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7RG
- Reported as
- Gettig Pitts Special S1C (PITTS SPEC)
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 1
- Airframe hours
- 2,641
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360, 200 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Jack E. Steinfeldt
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · April 30, 1995 · 43 hours before
- Departed
- GYR
- Airport
- GYR · Goodyear
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
- 67
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Center
- Flight hours
- 3,124 total · 2,600 in this make and model · 3,124 as pilot in command · 30 in the last 90 days · 10 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 120° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 10,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 90 °F, dew point 66 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- GYR, 9 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.
Other investigations on N7RG · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.