Pitts 51 N8WA

Summary

On 21 February 1982 at about 00:50 local time, a Pitts 51 registered N8WA, operated by Curtis Hawks, was involved in an accident near Morgan Hill, California, United States. One person was on board and one had minor injuries. The aircraft was destroyed. No probable cause statement is available for this record.

Date

21 February 1982 at 00:50

Classification

Accident

Location

Morgan Hill, California, United States

Coordinates

37.8394, -122.2291

Aircraft

Pitts 51

Registration

N8WA

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Curtis Hawks

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Morgan Hill → Morgan Hill

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX82FVM12

1 person had minor injuries.

The NTSB has not published a probable cause for this record. No probable cause statement is present in the source data.

Nothing about the cause is stated here that is not in the source record.

Read the full NTSB narrative

WHILE PERFORMING ACROBATIC MANEUVERS THE PILOT NOTICED SMOKEAND OIL STREAMING BACK FROM THE ENGINE AND A LOSS OF OIL PRESSURE. HE THROTTLED BACK IMMEDIATELY AND STARTED A DESCENT TOWARDS A VACANT FIELD. IN AN ATTEMPT TO CLEAR SOME TELEPHONE LINES IN HIS PATH HE ADVANCED THE THROTTLE BUT THE ENGINE WOULD NOT RESPOND. HE COLLIDED WITH THE LINES AND THE AIR CRAFT CAME TO REST IN THE FIELD. ENGINE EXAMINATION REVEALEDA RUPTURED FLEXIBLE OIL LINE RUNNING FROM THE REAR OIL PUMP UNDER THE ENGINE TO THE FORWARD OIL COOLER.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.