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SEA03LA145 · Andelin (Pitts) S1E

16 Jul 2003 · Troutdale, OR, United States

Andelin (Pitts) S1E · Accident: airframe, component or system failure during landing

From Portland Troutdale Airport (TTD) to Portland Troutdale Airport (TTD)

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Event

NTSB case
SEA03LA145
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
Unknown
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

Andelin (Pitts) S1E

Aircraft type
Andelin (pitts) S1
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
N732E
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Portland Troutdale Airport (TTD), Troutdale, ORTo Portland Troutdale Airport (TTD), Troutdale, OR
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
Landing · landing roll
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
Airframe, component or system failure
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

  • Hydraulic system, line › Obstructed

Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

The pilot of the tail wheel equipped Andelin (Pitts) S1E reported that after a local flight he returned to his airport of departure and set up for an approach to runway 25. He made a 3-point touchdown and as the aircraft decelerated through about 40 miles per hour the aircraft began to drift right of centerline. The pilot attempted to correct with the application of left rudder but the aircraft continued to the right at which time he applied left brake. The aircraft's lower left wingtip then contacted the runway and the aircraft decelerated to a stop coming to rest on its nose and right wingtip. Post-crash examination of the aircraft's braking system revealed a piece of hose lining material within the left brake line at the caliper fitting which completely obstructed the left brake line. This condition would have resulted in asymmetrical braking.

Probable cause

The pilot's inability to maintain directional control due to an obstruction of the left brake line by foreign material resulting in asymmetrical braking.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record SEA03LA145
Event ID
20030724X01186
Case number
SEA03LA145
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, coordinates. 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: a3b10c0c33fa9f6b4f0cfe7a01060b00207232dcdce868193e288b59f9d44b66; retrieved 2026-09-22T08:59:47.591Z.