20020101000299A

(-23) The student pilot was unable to glide to the airport on the turns from downwind, to base, and to final in windy and turbulent conditions. The glider landed on a nearby highway with underside damage due to hitting a guard rail. (.19) on January 1, 2002, about 1458 eastern standard time, a Let L-23 glider, N117BB, was substantially damaged during a forced landing near the Sterling Airport, Sterling, Massachusetts. The student pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the instructional flight conducted under 14 CFR part 91. According to a federal aviation administration inspector, the accident flight was the second flight of the day for the student pilot, which was conducted solo. The student stated to the inspector that the first flight was about 31/2HOURS earlier, and it was conducted with an instructor. The student added that it was windy on the first flight. On the solo flight, as the glider was towed behind a tow plane, the student observed that the wind was blowing down the favored runway, runway 34. During the tow to altitude, the conditions were ro ugh, with the towline going slack, and then tight, requiring the student to make corrections more often then she had ever done in the past. As the glider approached 2,500 feet, the towline was released and the student began to practice maneuvers. During the maneuvers, the student stated that she hit her head twice on the canopy due to the turbulent conditions. About 12 minutes into the flight, the student decided to return to the airport. She entered the traffic pattern, on the downwind leg, at 1,500 feet, but further out from the runway than normal. While on the downwind leg, the student checked the operation of the airbrake and kept her hand on it as she had been taught. As the glider was turned on to the base leg, the student realized that she would not make the runway and elected to perform a forced landing to a two-lane highway. The glider touched down on the southbound lane of the elevated roadway and impacted a metal guardrail, coming to rest upright on the road. The student reported she had accumulated about 13 hours of dual instruction, with 7 or 8 different flight instructors, at the Massachusetts institute of technology soaring club. She also accumulated about 1.4 hours of solo time. All of her previous flights had been conducted on days with light or calm wind conditions, with some crosswind landings. The recorded weather at a nearby airport, about the time of the accident, included winds from 250 degrees at 13 knots, gusts to 22 knots.