FTW86FA049 · Spencer PITTS S-1
Spencer PITTS S-1 and Cessna L-19E · Accident: midair collision on approach
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW86FA049
- 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
- 0 · 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
Aircraft 1 · Spencer PITTS S-1
- Aircraft type
- Spencer PITTS S-1
- 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
- N66D
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
- 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
- Approach · VFR pattern final
- 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
- Midair collision
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Aircraft 2 · Cessna L-19E
- Aircraft type
- Cessna L-19
- 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
- N4431B
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
- 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
- Initial climb
- 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
- Midair collision
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Minor
Cause areas
- Ground personnel › Visual lookout, inadequate
- Other person › Inadequate training
- Pilot in command › Preflight planning/preparation, inadequate
- Pilot of other aircraft › Preflight planning/preparation, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
AS A PITTS SPECIAL, N66D, WAS IN THE TRAFFIC PATTERN TO LND, A CESSNA L-19E TOWPLANE, N4431B, WAS ON THE 1300' GRASS OVERRUN NEAR THE APCH END OF THE RWY WITH A GLIDER BEING READIED FOR TOW. THE GLIDER (SAILPLANE) WAS A GROB 103, N226BG.THE PLT OF THE PITTS STATED HE NOTICED SVRL GLIDERS & TOWPLANES PARKED ON/NEAR THE OVERRUN, BUT SINCE THE USUAL PRACTICEWAS TO PARK SUCH ACFT IN THAT AREA, HE DID NOT CONSIDER THEIR PRESENCE AN INDCN OF IMMINENT TAKEOFF. AS THE PITTS CONTD ON FINAL APCH, THE TOWPLANE & GLIDER STARTED TAKING OFF. SHORTLY AFTER THE TOWPLANE LIFTED OFF, IT & THE PITTS CONVERGEDVERTICALLY & COLLIDED. THE PITTS THEN ENTERED AN UNCONTROLLED DSCNT & CRASHED IN A STEEP NOSE DOWN ATTITUDE, BUT THE PLTWAS SECURED IN THE ACFT BY A 5 POINT HARNESS & A LAP BELT & SURVIVED. THE TOWPLANE'S LEFT WING TIP WAS DAMAGED, BUT THE PLANE CONTD FLYING & LNDD SAFELY. RPRTDLY, THE WING WALKER FOR THE GLIDER WAS INEXPERIENCED & DID NOT CONFIRM THE LNDG TRAFFIC OR SIGNAL FOR THE TOWPLT TO DELAY THE TAKEOFF.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW86FA049
- Event ID
- 20001213X33053
- Case number
- FTW86FA049
- 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: 7a4c541d1bfabbe566da5e77181e99a46e52adf8109d34b7c0fc2de5e4ec4d7e; retrieved 2026-09-21T17:01:44.122Z.