Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Incline Vlg, Nevada 89451
Tuesady, February 6, 2007 15:30 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The experimental bi-plane collided with the frozen surface of a lake in daytime visual flight rules conditions during a local area flight. The pilot built, maintained, and raced the airplane, in which he had accrued over 700 hours. The commercial air carrier pilot reported 30,000 hours on his last airman medical application. An examination of the wreckage revealed no anomalies that would have precluded normal operation prior to impact. Located within the pilot's flight suit was a broken beer bottle. The pilot's post-mortem chest blood ethanol level was 0.155 percent, and post-mortem urine ethanol level was 0.279 percent. These levels suggest recent ingestion of substantial amounts of alcohol, amounts which would render a non-tolerant individual unconscious or nearly so. The FAA was aware of the pilot's driver's license suspension 10 months prior to the accident, but had not obtained details of the arrest. The arrest record for that suspension detailed that this pilot had been driving a vehicle at a blood alcohol level of more than 0.250. Had the FAA obtained this arrest record, they would have been aware that the pilot met the FAA's definition for substance dependence due to increased tolerance, and he likely would not have been issued a medical certificate without having undergone thorough evaluation and treatment.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The airplane collided with a frozen lake for undetermined reasons. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's intentional operation of the airplane while impaired by alcohol and the FAA's failure to obtain additional information about the pilot's self-reported driver's license suspension.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/6/2007 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1530 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Incline Vlg |
| Event State | NEVADA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 89451 |
| Event Date Year | 2007 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 391030N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1195406W |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1456 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 20 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | RNO |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 4415 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 22 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 20000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 19 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -12 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 210 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 16 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 22 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.04 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 22332 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA AWP Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Feb 8 2007 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 27 2007 11:30AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-RNO-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N20164 |
| NTSB Number | SEA07LA060 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Brown |
| Aircraft Model | Pitts S-1 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 001SB |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 1 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 1 2006 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 713.2 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | On File |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Reno |
| Aircraft Owner State | NV |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 89521 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | On File |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | On File |
| Operator City | Reno |
| Operator State | NV |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 89521 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | CXP |
| Departure City | Carson City |
| Departure State | NV |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1500 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Unknown |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 22 2007 4:22PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\HAMG |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |