GovWire

AAIB Report: Pitts S-1S (G-BOXV), Fatal Accident, 26 August 2022

Air Accidents Investigation Branch

May 3
08:57 2023

During an aerobatic practice flight, G-BOXV was seen to enter a climbing vertical rolling manoeuvre from approximately 420ft above ground level. The aircraft yawed right at the top of the manoeuvre, which apexed at approximately 1,100ft above ground level. During this, an uncommanded autorotative right roll developed and the aircraft entered a steep nose-down spiral dive. As the pilot attempted to pull out of the ensuing dive, the aircraft experienced an accelerated stall and rolling departure to the right. At that point, there was insufficient height remaining in which to effect a safe recovery and the aircraft struck the ground. The pilot was fatally injured in the accident.

No causal or contributory technical issues were found during the post-accident examination of the aircraft. The investigation found that the entry conditions to the initial climbing manoeuvre gave little or no safety margin when the aircraft began to dynamically diverge from the expected flight path at the apex. Entering the manoeuvre with more height and/or speed would likely have increased the pilots chances of avoiding the loss of control and/or being able to recover from it safely.

This accident serves as a reminder that conducting low level acrobatics comes with inherent risks when manoeuvres do not proceed as expected. There is generic guidance for aerobatic pilots contained in the CAA Safety Sense Leaflet 19 titled Aerobatics.

Read the report.

Media enquiries call: 01932 440

Related Articles

Comments

  1. We don't have any comments for this article yet. Why not join in and start a discussion.

Write a Comment

Your name:
Your email:
Comments:

Post my comment

Recent Comments

Follow Us on Twitter

Share This


Enjoyed this? Why not share it with others if you've found it useful by using one of the tools below: