FTW94FA220 · SIAI-Marchetti F.260
Air Strikes International SIAI-Marchetti F.260 · Accident: in flight collision with terrain/water while maneuvering
From Wiley Post Airport (PWA) to Wiley Post Airport (PWA)
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW94FA220
- 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
- 2 · 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
SIAI-Marchetti F.260
- Aircraft type
- Siai Marchetti F-260
- 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
- N260MS
- Operator
- Air Strikes International
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Wiley Post Airport (PWA), Oklahoma City, OKTo Wiley Post Airport (PWA)
- 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
- In flight collision with terrain/water
- 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 › Proper altitude, not maintained
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE FLIGHT WAS CONDUCTED TO DEMONSTRATE A SIMULATED AIR COMBAT MISSION FOR A TV STORY & FOR MARKETING PURPOSES. WITNESSES SAW THE AIRPLANE MAKE 2 PASSES AT A BRIDGE. EACH PASS ENDED WITH A STEEP PULL UP, FOLLOWED BY A WINGOVER & RECOVERY. ON THE 3RD PASS, THE PLANE APPROACHED THE BRIDGE ABOUT 50' ABOVE A RIVER BED (PART 91.303 REQUIRED A MINIMUM ALTITUDE OF 1500' FOR AEROBATIC FLIGHT). THE PLANE PULLED UP, ROLLED PAST 90 DEGREES OF BANK & DID A LEFT WINGOVER TYPE MANEUVER, BUT IMPACTED THE GROUND DURING RECOVERY. VIDEO CAMERAS ON THE GROUND & IN THE PLANE CONFIRMED THE WITNESS ACCOUNTS. THE COCKPIT VIDEO RECORDED AN EXPLETIVE FROM THE PILOT & AN ATTEMPT TO LEVEL THE WINGS JUST BEFORE IMPACT. THE PILOT WAS A FORMER U.S. NAVY PILOT WHO LAST FLEW FOR THE NAVY IN 1987. THE NAVY REMOVED HIM FROM FLIGHT STATUS DUE TO LACK OF AERONAUTICAL SKILLS. HE HELD NO CIVILIAN AIRMAN CERTIFICATES. THE OPERATOR WAS CONDUCTING BUSINESS UNDER 14 CFR 91, USING 2 AIRPLANES, WHICH DID NOT REQUIRE AN OPERATING CERTIFICATE; THEREFORE, THE LOCAL FAA FSDO WAS NOT REQUIRED TO CONDUCT ON-SITE SURVEILLANCE. FAA INSPECTORS HAD INTERVIEWED & SUBMITTED WRITTEN STATEMENTS TO THE OPERATOR, INCLUDING VISITS TO OFFICES OF THE OPERATOR, BUT HAD NOT BECOME AWARE OF THE PILOT'S LACK OF CREDENTIALS. AFTER A VISIT (ABT 6/23/94), THE PILOT WAS ASKED TO SHOW HIS CERTIFICATION, BUT HE SAID HE LEFT HIS BILLFOLD IN HIS CAR AT LUNCH; THE INSPECTOR TOLD HIM TO BE SURE TO HAVE HIS CERTIFICATES WITH HIM SHOULD HE FLY, THEN LEFT, AS HE WAS LATE FOR HIS NEXT APPOINTMENT. THE FAR'S DID NOT SPECIFICALLY ADDRESS THIS TYPE OF MISSION.
Probable cause
FAILURE OF THE PILOT TO MAINTAIN ADEQUATE ALTITUDE WHILE PERFORMING AN AEROBATIC DEMONSTRATION. FACTORS RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: THE PILOT'S INADEQUATE TRAINING, HIS LACK OF EXPERIENCE IN THE TYPE OF OPERATION, AND INSUFFICIENT FAA OVERSIGHT OF THIS TYPE OF OPERATION.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW94FA220
- Event ID
- 20001206X01728
- Case number
- FTW94FA220
- 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: 8f64093319c24d320c4d06e23328ea4b6b8d408c3be41f24cd8de819483dd5a2; retrieved 2026-09-21T00:05:27.313Z.