Manufacturer: Pitts
Base model: S-1
Designation: S-1
Version: S
Nickname: Special
Basic role: Aerobatics
Specifications
Length: 15' 6" 4.7 m
Height: 6' 3" 1.9 m
Wingspan: 17' 4" 5.2 m
Wingarea: 98.5 sq ft 9.1 sq m
Empty Weight: 720 lb 326 kg
Gross Weight: 1,148 lb 520 kg
Max Weight: 1,150 lb 521 kg
Performance Range: 315 miles 507 km
Cruise Speed: 141 mph 227 km/h 122 kt
Max Speed: 177 mph 285 km/h 154 kt
Climb: 2,677 ft/min 815 m/min
Ceiling: 22,300 ft 6,796 m
The Pitts Special is the brainchild of Curtis Pitts and a favorite for both competition and sport pilots alike. The Pitts is fully aerobatic with structural limits of +6 and -3 G's and has been the aircraft of choice for numerous national and international top ranked aerobatic pilots.
In the mid-1940s, Curtis Pitts wanted to build and fly an aircraft that would make the acrobatic planes of the day look like lumbering giants. Using a 55 hp Lycoming engine salvaged from a Taylorcraft destroyed in a tornado, Pitts built an extremely small biplane that was lightweight, strong and relatively inexpensive to produce. From very humble, home-built beginnings, the Pitts Special became instantly popular with professional aerobatic and other adventuresome pilots across the country. Over the next five decades, the appearance of the Pitts has changed little, although the aircraft has been improved in many ways. Most notably, Pitts added symmetrical wings to allow the plane to fly inverted as well as right side up, ailerons to the upper wing and a lengthened fuselage to accommodate larger engines. A two-seat version of the Pitts, the S2-A, was also produced for aerobatic training as well as competition flying.
While European countries developed new monoplane acrobatic aircraft in the late 1960s, the United States found its first success on the world aerobatic stage with the tiny Pitts S1-S biplane. The nimble S1-S, with its round airfoil, four ailerons and 180 h.p. Lycoming engine, was the ultimate competition aerobatic plane of its day. With a fantastic power-to-weight ratio, the Pitts was able to perform practically any maneuver, and its small size helped to hide mistakes from the judges during aerobatic routines. The S1-S achieved its finest moment during the 1972 World Aerobatic Championship in Salon de Provence, France. Charlie Hillard used the Pitts unique characteristics to perform his signature "Torque Roll," a delayed tail slide where the aircraft continues to roll while falling backward. His four minute freestyle performance earned his and America's first World Championship (also the only time a biplane won the World Championships).
The Pitts Special is a well constructed example of what aircraft enthusiasts can do on their own given enough time, space and resources. Today, the Pitts Special is manufactured in Wyoming by Aviat Aviation and may be purchased as a finished, ready to fly product or as a project for home construction.
Legal Stuff:
Do not make anykind of changes to the plane or the documentation without the original authors written permission and acceptance. Also do not include this package or any parts of it on any commercial add-on CD without a permission to do that. You can upload this plane on every site in the Internet as long as this file (s1spart2.zip) is not changed and our names are mentioned there as original authors. We do not take any responsibility of any possible harm/damage caused to your computer.
Installation:
Unzip plane in to your Flight Simulator 2002 MAIN directory. Just make sure you have the "use folder names" check box checked in Winzip and all should go well...
Happy Flying!!!
Copyright 2002
Plane and panels:
Mikko Maliniemi
mmniemi@hotmail.com
