- Date
- February 19, 1983, 11:30 local (16:30 UTC)
- Place
- St. Petersburg, FL
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N507LSPitts Special S-1C
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19830219004609A
- Case key
- 30815
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
This was the plt's 2nd flt in his home built acft. During his preflight, he checked the sight gauge for fuel, but did not visually check the fuel tank. The gauge indicated that there was about 17 gal of fuel remaining. During flight, the engine lost power and ran only a few seconds when a restart was attempted. Subsequently, a crash landing was made on a college campus. The plt reported that he had incorporated an on/off valve in a fuel line to the sight gauge, so he could turn it off if a fuel leak occurred in the gauge system. He reported that earlier, he had turned the valve off & had forgotten it, thus trapping fuel in the gauge. After the accident, he estimated that he had about 3 gal of fuel on board when he tookoff.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N507LS
- Reported as
- Pitts Special S-1C (SPECIAL S-)
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- ALS-001
- Airframe hours
- 1
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-320-C1A, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- A. L. Stevens, Dds
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Unknown · February 7, 1983 · 1 hours before
- Departed
- SPG · St. Petersburg, FL
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
- 66
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 356 total · 1 in this make and model · 300 as pilot in command · 645 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 30° at 5 knots
- Lowest ceiling
- 25,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point 50 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.