Sorensen Danny PITTS S1 S N4714H

Summary

On 15 July 2016 at about 00:30 local time, a Sorensen Danny PITTS S1 S registered N4714H was involved in an accident near Somerville, Tennessee, 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

15 July 2016 at 00:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Somerville, Tennessee, United States

Nearest airport

Fayette County Airport (FYE)

Coordinates

35.2078, -89.3944

Aircraft

Sorensen Danny PITTS S1 S

Registration

N4714H

Category

Airplane

Year built

1984

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Rossville → Somerville

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA16LA260

Nobody was injured.

The failure of the left landing gear leg due to fatigue, which resulted in a ground loop during landing. Contributing to the accident was the airplane builder's installation of a custom-built landing gear rather than the landing gear included with the airplane kit.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The private pilot was conducting a cross-country, personal flight in the experimental, amateur-built, tailwheel-equipped airplane. The pilot reported that, while slowing the airplane after a normal three-point landing in a calm wind, the airplane began swerving. The airplane then departed the right side of the runway and ground looped. Examination of the wreckage revealed that the left landing gear leg had separated. Metallurgical examination of the fractured landing gear leg surface revealed a small thumbnail-like fatigue region, followed by an overstress region. A previous owner had assembled the airplane from a kit about 32 years before the accident, and it had accumulated about 875 total hours of operation. The builder did not use the stock bungie landing gear that were included with the kit. Rather, to reduce drag, he designed and constructed his own round, tapered rod landing gear. It is likely that the homemade, custom-built landing gear leg could not support the same loading as the stock bungie landing gear, which resulted in fatigue over a period of time and the gear leg's subsequent failure.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.