Pitts pilot reported changing his takeoff maneuver during airshow practice and striking the top of a...

Attributes
ACN	1391340
Time
Date	201609
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Pitts S-1 All Series
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Initial Climb
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Flight Engineer
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 25 Flight Crew Total 10000 Flight Crew Type 300
Events
Anomaly	Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT

Narrative:

During practice for an airshow; I changed my takeoff maneuver. The result was I clipped the top of a pine tree resulting in leading edge and wing tip damage. The aircraft did not react as quickly as expected with the change. I should have allowed a more generous margin between the tree and the aircraft when trying a new maneuver.on the plus side; required practice prior to the introduction of a change in air show routine is exactly what kept this incident from occurring at an event. In that sense; the system is working where the only things damaged were the aircraft and my pride.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Pitts pilot reported changing his takeoff maneuver during airshow practice and striking the top of a tree. The wingtip and leading edge were damaged; but the reporter was able to return to the departure airport for an uneventful landing.

Narrative: During practice for an airshow; I changed my takeoff maneuver. The result was I clipped the top of a pine tree resulting in leading edge and wing tip damage. The aircraft did not react as quickly as expected with the change. I should have allowed a more generous margin between the tree and the aircraft when trying a new maneuver.On the plus side; required practice prior to the introduction of a change in air show routine is exactly what kept this incident from occurring at an event. In that sense; the system is working where the only things damaged were the aircraft and my pride.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.