Aviat PITTS S-2B N260BF

Summary

On 11 July 1995 at about 20:30 local time, a Aviat PITTS S-2B registered N260BF was involved in an accident near Queenstown, Maryland, United States. One person was on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

11 July 1995 at 20:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Queenstown, Maryland, United States

Coordinates

38.9395, -76.9594

Aircraft

Aviat PITTS S-2B

Registration

N260BF

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Stevensville → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

NYC95LA157

Nobody was injured.

failure of the fuselage longeron tubes due to fatigue, which resulted in partial separation (distortion) of the fuselage, partial loss of aircraft control, and a partial loss of engine power.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot was conducting aerobatic maneuvers. The pilot stated, that during a maneuver, '...As I pulled out of the maneuver (a 4 to 5 G pull) I heard a very loud 'shot gun' type noise and simultaneously experienced a hard jolt and a release of pressure on the stick as the plane's nose pitched downward....The throttle lever jammed at approximately the half closed position. The plane was descending; in order to stabilize the airspeed for a forced landing, I had to hold full back stick pressure.' Examination of the aircraft revealed the upper left and right longeron tubes from the fuselage were fractured. The fracture of the longerons restricted movement of the cables for the throttle and mixture control. Metallurgical examination of the longeron fractures revealed evidence of fatigue cracking.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.