LAX94LA194 · Pitts S-2A
Tsunami Aviation Hawaii Pitts S-2A · Accident: loss of control in flight while maneuvering
From Kawaihapai Airfield (HDH) to Kawaihapai Airfield (HDH)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX94LA194
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 1 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Pitts S-2A
- Aircraft type
- Pitts S-2
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N54TA
- Operator
- Tsunami Aviation Hawaii
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Kawaihapai Airfield (HDH), Mokuleia, HITo Kawaihapai Airfield (HDH), HI
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Maneuvering
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Loss of control in flight
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Aircraft control, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Spatial disorientation
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
A PITTS S-2A COLLIDED WITH THE SURFACE OF THE OCEAN DURING AN ACROBATIC DISPLAY. THE PILOT WAS PERFORMING A WEEKLY AIR SHOW FOR GUESTS OF A WATERFRONT HOTEL. THE AIRPLANE WAS DOING SLOW ROLLS ALONG THE SHORELINE AT AN ALTITUDE OF 200 TO 300 FEET. AFTER COMPLETING TWO ROLLS, THE AIRPLANE SLOWLY ROLLED INVERTED AND DESCENDED INTO THE WATER IN AN ARCING FLIGHT PATH. THE AIRPLANE'S ENGINE WAS HEARD TO ACCELERATE SECONDS BEFORE HITTING THE WATER. THERE WERE NO REPORTS OF MECHANICAL FAILURE OR MALFUNCTIONS BY WITNESSES. THE PRESIDENT OF THE COMPANY THAT EMPLOYED THE PILOT INDICATED THAT IN THE PAST HE HAD TALKED TO THE PILOT ABOUT THE ACROBATIC MANEUVERS IN THE SHOW. ACCORDING TO THE PRESIDENT, THE PILOT HAD STATED ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS THAT, 'YOU SHOULD NEVER DO MORE THAN 2 ROLLS AT A TIME BECAUSE YOU WOULD BECOME TOO EASILY DISORIENTED.'
Probable cause
THE FAILURE OF THE PILOT TO MAINTAIN AIRCRAFT CONTROL DUE TO SPATIAL DISORIENTATION WHILE PERFORMING AN ACROBATIC ROUTINE. A FACTOR IN THE ACCIDENT WAS THE LOW ALTITUDE AT WHICH THE PILOT WAS PERFORMING THE ACROBATIC MANEUVERS.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX94LA194
- Event ID
- 20001206X01137
- Case number
- LAX94LA194
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 3caf8bdee082c7e4a74d98353afbae9daf1a74e17a8b0ec1db370ff08ceebbba; retrieved 2026-09-21T00:11:35.957Z.