Pitts S1S accident near Carbondale, Illinois, December 31, 2025

The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record

The pilot reported that he had completed three touch-and-go landings followed by a low approach. As he began a climb after the low approach, the engine lost power about 400 feet above ground level (agl). The pilot was able to momentarily restore partial power by manually actuating the emergency fuel pump; however, the engine lost power again. He was unable to restore engine power and executed a forced landing on an airport perimeter road. The airplane subsequently struck a power pole which resulted in substantial damage to the airframe. A postaccident examination of the engine revealed no mechanical anomalies. No fuel was present in the fuel manifold when the fuel manifold was disassembled. Further examination revealed that the mixture control cable was not secured at the fuel injection servo. Movement of the cockpit mixture control resulted in corresponding flexing of the mixture cable outer sheath at the engine fuel injection servo. With the cockpit mixture control in the full rich position, the engine fuel injector mixture lever position corresponded to about mid-range. A full rich mixture setting at the fuel injector could not be achieved. Maintenance logbooks indicated that several fuel lines were replaced and a fuel flow transducer was installed about 3.6 hours before the accident. It is likely that the failure of the mixture cable sheath to be properly secured at the fuel injection servo allowed the cable to flex, resulting in an uncommanded change in the fuel servo mixture during the flight, resulting in a loss of engine power due to fuel starvation.

The complete narrative as the NTSB published it. The NTSB's docket holds the report as a PDF and any photographs, statements and other documents from the investigation.

Photographs from the investigation 8 pictures from the NTSB's docket, as the NTSB released them

Photograph 1 – Accident sitePhotograph 2 – Aircraft in hangar at examination timePhotograph 3 – Engine with cowling removedPhotograph 4 – Spark plugsPhotograph 5 – Mixture linkage with severed safety wirePhotograph 6 – Position of mixture arm with fuel screen removedPhotograph 7 – Mixture cable slippagePhotograph 8 – Fuel manifold top removed, no fuel noted

The NTSB's photographs with the NTSB's captions, at screen size. Open a picture to see it full size or to report one that should not be shown.

Other NTSB records under N401MS the same tail number, which may have belonged to a different aircraft at the time