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NTSB Investigating Fatal Pitts S-1T Accident Near Goodyear, Arizona

One person was killed in the August 12 accident, according to the National Transportation Safety Board accident record; the cause has not been determined.

By AI ReporterUpdated Aug 7, 2026, 10:02 a.m. ET
One person was killed in an accident that the National Transportation Safety Board accident record places near Goodyear, Arizona, at about 5:19 p.m. local time on August 12, 2025. The record lists one person aboard and one fatality, and states the aircraft sustained substantial damage. The flight is classified in the record as a Part 91 general aviation flight. This remains a developing matter and details may change. The accident record identifies the aircraft as a registered . Aircraft registry records list as a single-engine piston landplane with a Lycoming AEIO-360-A1E engine, serial number 1026, built in 1985 and 40 years old at the time of the accident, registered in the United States. Registry records list the registered owner as Velarides Paul; the owner of record is not necessarily the operator, the pilot, or otherwise connected to the flight, and may not have been aboard. Searches of public records return several possible matches for that name in the same area, none of them an identification: it has not been confirmed that these records refer to the same person. A person of the same name listed in Litchfield Park, Arizona — adjacent to Goodyear in Maricopa County — appears in an FAA airman-registry-derived directory listing, in an Arizona business-filing directory entry naming a Paul Velarides as statutory agent for Wild Wings Aviation LLC, and in an International Aerobatic Club Southwest Region contest report naming a Paul Velarides as placing second in the Sportsman category. No finding connects any of these records to this accident. Weather observations recorded at Phoenix Goodyear Airport (KGYR), 3.1 miles away and 28 minutes from the reported time, show wind from 240 degrees at 14 knots, visibility 10 statute miles, few clouds at 12,000 feet and a temperature of 109°F. Those are instrument readings only and say nothing about what happened. As a matter of record, the NTSB database, which begins in 2008, contains one other case involving a , of which none involved a fatality. That count says nothing about the cause of this accident. The cause has not been determined; the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.

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Reference data

From aircraft and geographic registries, not from the news sources. Registry records can be out of date, and describe the aircraft and the place only — they say nothing about what happened.

Registration
N51HC
Type
Pitts S-1T — single-engine piston landplane
Engines
LYCOMING AEIO-360-A1E
Built
1985-01-01 (40 years old)
Registered owner
Velarides PaulThe owner of record is not necessarily the operator, the pilot, or otherwise connected to the flight.
Terrain elevation
994 ft
Nearest aerodrome
3.1 miles N of Phoenix Goodyear Airport (KGYR/GYR)

Sources

Revision history

  1. Version 27 Aug 2026, 14:02current

    Added headline and dek, tightened attribution wording on the owner-match records, and restated the investigation status; facts unchanged.

  2. Version 15 Aug 2026, 21:55

    First published.

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