LAX84FA055 · Aerotek PITTS S-2B
Aerotek PITTS S-2B · Accident: loss of control in flight while maneuvering
From Sacramento Executive Airport (SAC) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX84FA055
- 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
Aerotek PITTS S-2B
- Aircraft type
- Aerotek PITTS S-2B
- 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
- N700ME
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Sacramento Executive Airport (SAC), Sacramento, CATo 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
- 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
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Stall/spin
- 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 › Procedures/directives, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
DURING AN AEROBATIC FLT, THE PLT-IN-COMMAND WAS ASKED TO DEMONSTRATE RECOVERY FROM AN INVERTED FLAT SPIN. THE MANEUVER WAS INITIATED AT APRX 5000 FT. AFTER THE ACFT MADE APRX 3/4 OF AN INVERTED TURN, IT ROLLED UPRIGHT AS THE PIC STARTED TO 'FEED IN THROTTLE.' HE RETARDED THE THOTTLE, HELD FORWARD STICK & RIGHT RUDDER & THE ACFT ROLLED INVERTED AGAIN. AGAIN, POWER WAS APPLIED & THE PLANE ROLLED UPRIGHT AGAIN & 'WOUND UP TIGHT.' REPORTEDLY, THE PIC RETARDED THE POWER & APPLIED OPPOSITE RUDDER, BUT WAS UNABLE TO STOP THE SPIN, WHICH WAS TO THE LEFT & BETWEEN A NORMAL & FLAT SPIN ATTITUDE.AT APRX 2000 FT, THE PIC ORDERED A BAILOUT, BUT THE 2ND PLT REMAINED IN THE ACFT. FINALLY, THE PIC BAILED OUT AT APRX 500 FT & WAS SERIOUSLY INJURED. THE ACFT STOPPED ROTATING JUST PRIOR TO IMPACTING THE GROUND IN A NOSE DOWN, WINGS LEVELATTITUDE. TO RCVR FROM A FLAT, UPRIGHT, LEFT SPIN, THE PROCEDURING WAS: THROTTLE - IDLE, STICK - FULL LEFT TO FORCE THE INSIDE WING DOWN, HOLD UNTIL A NORMAL SPIN DEVELOPS, THEN RCVR FROM NORMAL SPIN; EXPECT 2500 FT ALT LOSS DURING RCVRY.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX84FA055
- Event ID
- 20001214X45094
- Case number
- LAX84FA055
- 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: 169c432ba6f4b7c8475ab5c406b695b032feed1350b2e690905cfc0c18733bdd; retrieved 2026-09-21T05:55:37.930Z.