LAX82DA207 · Pitts S-1 (BARTOE/SKYOTE) S-1 (BARTO
Pitts S-1 (BARTOE/SKYOTE) S-1 (BARTO and Piper PA-28 · Accident: midair collision on approach
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX82DA207
- 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 · Pitts S-1 (BARTOE/SKYOTE) S-1 (BARTO
- Aircraft type
- 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
- N25PB
- Operator
- Peter Wright Bell
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From SRU · Santa Cruz, CATo SRU · Santa Cruz, CA
- 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
- None
Aircraft 2 · Piper PA-28
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-28
- 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
- N40951
- Operator
- Robert Richard George
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From SRU · Santa Cruz, CATo SRU · Santa Cruz, CA
- 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
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Visual lookout, inadequate
- Pilot of other aircraft › Visual lookout, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
DURING A LANDING APPROACH, THE PILOT OF A HOMEBUILT PITTS AIRCRAFT ENCOUNTERED THE CROSSWIND, ABORTED THE LANDING AND REENTERED ON DOWNWIND. AFTER TURNING FINAL, HE SAW A PIPER PA-28, N40951, DIRECTLY AHEAD. HE MOVED THE STICK FULL FORWARD AND TO THE LEFT TO AVOID A COLLISION. HOWEVER, THE PROPELLER OF THE PITTS STRUCK THE LOWER FUSELAGE, LEFT FLAP, AND LEFT WHEEL FAIRING AND TIRE OF THE PA-28. AFTER THE COLLISION THE PILOT OF THE PITTS AIRCRAFT WENT AROUND AND LANDED WITHOUT FURTHER INCIDENT. THE PA-28 PILOT CONTINUED HIS LANDING, BUT THE PLANE SWERVED TO THE LEFT SIDE OF THE RUNWAY DURING LANDING ROLL. A WITNESS STATED THAT THE COLLISION OCCURRED AT ABOUT 50 FT AGL. THE PILOT OF THE PIPER PA-28 REPORTED THAT HIS PLANE WAS STRUCK FROM BEHIND AND BELOW.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX82DA207
- Event ID
- 20020917X03553
- Case number
- LAX82DA207
- 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, damage. 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: 9d2980e0ab0f0e28b1bb1eee57ee75bdf11f4085aa6f9bcd3d0a69ba26a1b095; retrieved 2026-09-24T03:02:32.535Z.