- Date
- April 13, 1994, 10:50 local (14:50 UTC)
- Place
- Lakeland, FL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N16LWPitts S1-C
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 18, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19940413000749A
- Case key
- 37529
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-in-command's failure to maintain proper runway alignment during a crosswind landing.
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 private pilot was landing with a right crosswind and landed to the right of the runway. The airplane collided with a berm on landing rollout, became airborne, nosed over, and came to rest inverted.
Factual narrative
On April 13, 1994, about 1050 eastern daylight time, a Pitts S1-C, N16LW, registered to Linn R. Walters, operating as a 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight crashed on landing. The airplane sustained substantial damage. The private pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. The flight originated from the Lakeland Airport about 30 minutes before the accident.
The pilot stated he was landing with a right crosswind. The airplane drifted to the right, and touched down off the right side of the runway as he was looking out the left side of the airplane. The main landing gear collided with a berm to the right of the runway. The airplane bounced, became airborne, collided with the ground in a nose-down attitude, nosed over and came to rest inverted.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N16LW
- Reported as
- Pitts S1-C
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 1
- Airframe hours
- 350
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-A4A, 130 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Walters, Linn R.
- Registered owner
- Walters, Linn R.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 25, 1994 · 10 hours before
- Airport
- LAL · Lakeland Linder Airport, runway 9, grass/turf
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
- 48
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 1,000 total · 300 in this make and model · 1,000 as pilot in command · 20 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 12 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 30,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 90 °F, dew point 72 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- LAL, 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.