CEN10LA295 · Pitts Aerobatics S-2B
Pitts Aerobatics S-2B · Accident: powerplant system/component malfunction/failure during initial climb
From Blue Sky Airfield (2TX0) to Blue Sky Airfield (2TX0)
Event
- NTSB case
- CEN10LA295
- 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
Pitts Aerobatics S-2B
- Aircraft type
- Pitts Aerobatics S-2
- 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
- N260PK
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Blue Sky Airfield (2TX0), Amarillo, TXTo Blue Sky Airfield (2TX0), Amarillo, TX
- 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
- Defining eventThe 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
- Powerplant system/component malfunction/failure
- 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
- Aircraft › Aircraft systems
- Not determined › Not determined
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
During the initial climb following an engine teardown, inspection, and engine reinstallation, the airplane’s engine experienced a partial loss of power. The pilot initiated a 180-degree turn and performed a downwind landing on the runway from which he had just departed. Following the landing, and while taxiing, the pilot observed flames emanating from the engine cowling area. The pilot shut down the engine and exited the airplane. Moments later the airplane was engulfed in flames. An examination of the airplane’s engine revealed that the engine-driven fuel pump housing had fractured where the fuel line fitting had been inserted. The fitting, with its pipe thread, was the correct fitting; however, its preaccident torque value is unknown. Due to thermal damage to the pump housing the reason for the failure could not be determined.
Probable cause
The fracture of the fuel pump housing for undetermined reasons.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CEN10LA295
- Event ID
- 20100603X71039
- Case number
- CEN10LA295
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
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: 10e494b3b5feddad4129df2a54d4a2713fa4d9feccd988b306fc5ef41642e779; retrieved 2026-09-15T14:20:52.257Z.