20170622010859A

Accident · Substantial damage

FAA accident report · Schempp-Hirth DISCUS-2B · Bishop, CA · June 22, 2017

Date
June 22, 2017 · 14:00 local
Place
Bishop, CA
Airport
Eastern Sierra Regional
Phase of flight
Cruise/Level Flight
Operating rules
General operating rules (Part 91)
Damage
Substantial damage
Aircraft
N21TH
NTSB investigation
NTSBGAA17CA368
Reported as
Schempp-Hirth DISCUS-2B
Reported engine
NONE NONE
People aboard
1
Fatal injuries
0
Other injuries
1
Pilot’s certificate
Private pilot
Pilot’s flight hours
394 total1 in this make and model22 in the last 90 days

From the FAA’s Accident/Incident Data System (AIDS), through its Aviation Safety Information Portal, as reported. The NTSB investigates accidents separately, and its record of an accident is the fuller one. The aircraft is matched to the registry by N-number and event date, checked against the reported make and model; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.

What happened

The FAA’s narrative, in sentence case. The FAA writes it in capitals and removes private details.

Pilot inexperience with this glider and misjudgement of available thermal or ridge lift available resulting in contact with trees and then terrain. This accident was controlled flight into terrain.

As the FAA filed it

PILOT INEXPERIENCE WITH THIS GLIDER AND MISJUDGEMENT OF AVAILABLE THERMAL OR RIDGE LIFT AVAILABLE RESULTING IN CONTACT WITH TREES AND THEN TERRAIN. THIS ACCIDENT WAS CONTROLLED FLIGHT INTO TERRAIN.

NTSB investigation

The NTSB’s investigation of this event, with its probable cause and findings. Matched to this report by N-number and date.