Pitts Special S-1S

The single-seat Pitts is the airplane the whole aerobatic category was measured against for thirty years. Curtis Pitts began the design in 1943-44; the S-1S was the first version to hold a full type certificate, approved on 13 February 1973, and US teams flying single-seat Pitts biplanes won the world team championship in 1970 and 1972. If you want to fly Unlimited-category figures in a certified airplane on a modest budget, this is still the short list.

This page covers only the certified, single-seat airplanes on FAA Type Certificate A8SO: the 180 hp S-1S (61 built), the 200 hp S-1T (64 built), and the rare 260 hp S-2S (17 built). The two-seat S-2, S-2A, S-2B and S-2C are a different airplane with a different mission and their own page — see Pitts Special S-2.

The single-seat point matters more than it sounds. You cannot be taught in this airplane. Every hour you fly in it is solo, in a type with a well-documented landing accident record, so the transition happens in somebody else's two-seat airplane and then you get in this one alone. Plan and budget for that before you plan anything else.

The airframe is a welded steel-tube fuselage with wood wing spars and fabric covering. That is not a defect — it is how the airplane is built and has been built for eighty years — but it puts spar condition, glue joints and fabric age at the center of any pre-buy.

Airspeed limits are identical across all three: Vne 203 mph CAS (176 kt), Va and Vno 154 mph CAS (134 kt), per TCDS A8SO. Baggage on the S-1S and S-1T is 15 pounds; on the S-2S it is 20. That is the whole luggage story.

The cruise, burn and range on this page are one triple at one setting. The published pair for the S-1S is 141 mph (122 KTAS) and 315 statute miles (273 nm). Nineteen usable gallons over 273 nm at 122 KTAS works out to 8.5 gph, roughly a 63% power setting on a 180 hp four — an economy cruise, and the burn recorded here. At 75% you would see closer to 10 gph and still-air range falls to about 230 nm.

Now hold a reserve back, because this is the number that actually governs your flying. Nineteen usable gallons, 45 minutes kept in the tank at 8.5 gph, leaves 12.6 gallons — about 1.5 hours, or roughly 180 nm of usable leg. The Pitts is a 150-nm airplane in practice. Owners fly them across the country; they do it in short hops with a lot of fuel stops.

The S-1T's constant-speed propeller is worth more than the 20 horsepower it comes with. A fixed-pitch S-1S is compromised at both ends of the envelope — you choose between climb pitch and cruise pitch when you spec the prop — and the S-1T simply does not have that argument.

The airplane's real handling story is on the ground, not in the air. Forward visibility over the cowling on final and during rollout is close to nonexistent; the standard technique is a forward slip on final so you can see the runway at all. NTSB probable-cause findings for this type cluster hard on "failure to maintain directional control during the landing rollout." The airframe is short-coupled, the gear is stiff, and it does not forgive a late correction. Expect 8-10 hours of dual in a two-seat Pitts before you fly a single-seater, and expect that estimate to be wrong in either direction. Owners consistently say the type demands flying at least weekly to stay current.

S-1S — 430 lb useful load, 20 gal (19 usable), 15 lb maximum baggage.

The weight story here is unusual and worth stating plainly: the S-1S is not weight-limited by any realistic pilot. Full fuel, a 250 lb pilot and the entire 15 lb baggage allowance is 385 lb against 430 lb available. The binding constraints are the 15 lb baggage placard and the 19 usable gallons, not the scale. This is a one-person, one-and-a-half-hour airplane, and it is superb at being exactly that.

The S-2S is a different proposition — 1,575 lb normal gross against roughly the same single occupant, with 33 usable gallons — but with 17 built you will weigh the specific airframe rather than plan from a table.

See also Pitts Special S-2 for the two-seat airplane you will train in.

• Aerobatics (10): This is what the airplane is. Certified in the Acrobatic category, crisp on snap and point rolls, light enough that vertical penetration is limited by entry speed rather than power. Single-seat Pitts biplanes compete at Unlimited.
• Local fun flying (8): For a pilot who wants aerobatics, nothing in this price bracket comes close. Marked down only because the landing workload means it is never a casual airplane, and currency is a weekly commitment.
• Flight training (1): Not a score, a fact. One seat. No instructor can sit in it with you. Even aerobatic self-training is impossible here; you learn in something else.
• Cross-country (1): About 180 nm between fuel stops with a reserve, 15 lb of baggage, no flaps, VFR panel, and a cockpit you cannot stretch in.
• Business travel (1): One seat.
• Backcountry (1): Short-coupled, stiff-gear biplane with small wheels and minimal prop clearance.
• Cargo hauling (1): 15 pounds.
• Surveying (1): No second crew position, no endurance, no downward view.

• Typical: Airspeed, altimeter, tachometer, oil pressure and temperature, slip-skid ball, and an accelerometer. That is a complete panel for this airplane and many owners want nothing more — instruments are weight, and in a competition box they are a distraction.
• What you must add: ADS-B Out. Panel volume is genuinely scarce.
• Sensible upgrades: A Garmin G5 or GI-275 as a combined attitude and airspeed display, a handheld or small panel GPS, and an intercom if you fly with a headset rather than a helmet.
• An accelerometer is not optional on some airframes — see the ADs section.
• IFR: No. Not equipped, and the mission does not justify the panel.

• Inverted fuel and oil systems. Standard-fit thinking on an S-1T with its AEIO engine; a modification on an S-1S, whose certified engine is a plain IO-360-B4A with a fixed-pitch prop. If you are buying an S-1S and intend to fly negative-g figures, verify what is actually installed rather than assuming.
• Constant-speed propeller conversion on an S-1S. The single biggest performance change available to the airframe.
• Smoke system. Standard equipment for airshow and competition flying.
• Control stick replacement to the 0.058-inch wall section — the terminating action for a repetitive inspection, and worth real money.
• Wing attach fitting modification per Aviat SB 25 — likewise terminating, likewise worth money.
• Competition rigging. Experienced owners adjust wing incidence and aileron rigging for specific handling. Ask what has been done and by whom; rigging is known to change this type's spin behavior.

• Annual inspection: $2,000-$4,000. An aerobatic biplane's annual is a structural inspection, not a filter change, and the AD-driven 50-hour items land on top of it.
• Engine overhaul: $45,000 for the IO-360 at 2,000 hours (S-1S), or the AEIO-360 at 1,400 hours (S-1T). That is $22.50/hr and $32/hr of reserve respectively — a difference worth doing the arithmetic on before deciding the 200 hp airplane is obviously better value.
• Parts: good. Aviat supports the certified airframes and Steen Aero Lab supports the homebuilt lineage. Tires are a consumable in a way they are not on other airplanes — the Goodyear Flight Custom III is rated for about 450 landings.
• Mechanic familiarity: specialist. Biplane rigging, wood spars, fabric and aerobatic structural inspection are three separate skills and not every A&P has any of them. Find the shop before you find the airplane.
• All-in: roughly $14,000/year at 75-100 hours, dominated by insurance, hangar and the engine reserve rather than fuel.

• What is actually sourced: four certified S-1S listings at $60,000-$74,234 (September 2026). That is the only firm market evidence on this page.
• The top half of the stored band is not sourced. No current asking price for a certified S-1T was found in any listing service consulted, and the S-2S is rare enough (17 built) that no market exists to sample. The $110,000 ceiling is an extension to cover them, not an observation. Treat it as a placeholder and replace it with a real comparable when one appears.
• Engine and prop status dominate. An IO-360 overhaul at the national specialty tier is $45,000; a 200 hp AEIO-360 in the S-1T runs to a 1,400-hour TBO, not 2,000, so an S-1T's engine clock moves 40% faster than an S-1S's.
• Terminated ADs are worth money. The 0.058-inch control stick and the SB 25 wing fitting modification each remove a 50-hour repetitive inspection.
• Inverted systems on an S-1S are a genuine value-add because they are not standard fit.
• Fabric age is a five-figure sinking fund; an airplane recovered two years ago and one recovered twenty years ago are not the same purchase.

Airworthiness Directives. Indexed from the CAA of New Zealand AD schedule for Pitts S-1 and S-2 series aircraft (26 September 2019). Confirm applicability against the FAA record by serial number — several are serial-limited and several have terminating actions that may already have been done.

• AD 96-10-12 — flight control stick. Applies to S-1S, S-1T, S-2, S-2A, S-2S and S-2B fitted with a 0.035-inch wall stick. Dye-penetrant inspection per Aviat SB 23 from 1,000 hours total time, then every 50 hours. Replacing with the 0.058-inch stick terminates it. A 50-hour repetitive inspection on a flight control is a real ownership cost; an airplane that already has the heavy stick is worth more.
• AD 96-12-03 R2 — aft lower fuselage wing attach fittings. S-1S, S-1T, S-2, S-2A and S-2S (all serials) with fittings P/N 76090, 2-2107-1 or 1-210-102. Crack inspection every 50 hours until modified per Aviat SB 25. The unsafe condition named is in-flight separation of the wing.
• AD 97-26-20 — fuselage upper longerons. Applies to the S-2A, S-2B (S/N 5000-5350) and S-2S, not to the S-1. Inspection at 300 hours then every 100, plus either a marked accelerometer and a g-limit placard, or a placard reading AEROBATIC MANEUVERS PROHIBITED. If you are looking at an S-2S, find out which of those two options the airplane is flying under before you do anything else.
• Older ADs in the same schedule: 72-19-02, 72-19-05, 73-07-06, 73-16-06, 76-16-08, 85-01-04, 91-23-02, 96-09-06, 2006-12-07.

Common problems and pre-buy focus.

• Landing damage is the dominant risk. Ground loops, prop strikes and gear damage. Look for repairs to the lower wings, gear legs and gear box, and be suspicious of a low-time airframe with a recent engine overhaul — that pattern is often a prop strike, not enthusiasm.
• Wood spars and glue joints. Open the wing inspection panels. There is no wood-spar AD on this type as there is on the Champion family, which means the condition of the wood is entirely down to a competent inspection rather than a mandated one.
• Fabric. Age, tautness, and condition around the inspection rings and drain grommets.
• Control system slop. Rod-end bearings wear and the airplane's precision goes with them.
• Engine mount bushings. A spinner or nose bowl sitting visibly off-center is the tell.
• Anti-drag wires in the upper wing for stress damage.
• Tailwheel. The leaf spring relaxes with age; the result is shimmy and poor steering authority.
• Canopy. Small, single-source, fragile, and the emergency release needs to be verified.
• Aerobatic hours are not cruise hours. Five hundred hours of competition flying fatigues an airframe in a way five hundred hours of cross-country does not, and the logbooks rarely separate the two. Ask.

• Hull: roughly $2,500-$4,000/year on a $75,000 hull. The published hull rate band is 0.8%-2.5%; an aerobatic single-seat taildragger sits at the top of it or above.
• Liability: $700-$1,200/year.
• This is the harder problem, and it is not the money. A single-seat airplane cannot be checked out in. Underwriters respond by demanding tailwheel time, documented aerobatic instruction, and hours in a two-seat Pitts before they will write the airplane at all — and some will simply decline a low-time applicant rather than surcharge them. Get a written indication before you sign a purchase agreement, not after.
• Aerobatics must be a named covered activity. Most standard policies exclude it. Airshow flying needs a separate rider again.
• These bands are extrapolated, not binder-backed. The vault's insurance reference records real binders for a Grumman Tiger and a Mooney M20J only; nothing in the aerobatic class. Replace with a quote when one is obtained.