- Date
- August 1, 1993, 16:15 local (20:15 UTC)
- Place
- Jonesville, NC
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N3WXMolino PIK-20
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 2, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19930801027049A
- Case key
- 3247
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain airspeed, which resulted in an inadvertent stall/spin.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The pilot, upon realizing that he had set up too high on final approach, retracted landing gear and flaps and attempted a go- around. The glider stalled and began to spin. The glider crashed in a nose low, left wing low attitude and then rolled onto its back in a cornfield approximately 1/4 mile south of the landing strip. It was reported in the pilot/ operator report that there was no stall warning system installed in the airplane.
Factual narrative
On August 1, 1993, at 1615 eastern daylight time, a Molino OY PIK-20, N3WX was substantially damaged following a collision with terrain during an attempted go around at Swan Creek Airport near Jonesville, North Carolina. The glider-only rated private pilot was not injured in the accident. The aircraft was being operated under 14 CFR Part 91 by the pilot. Visual meteorological conditions existed at the time, and no flight plan had been filed for the local, personal flight.
The pilot reported that he was high on his final approach for landing and attempted a go-around. He stated that when he retracted the landing gear and flaps, the aircraft stalled and spiraled into the terrain about 1/4 mile from the runway. The glider impacted on its left wing tip in a nose-low attitude and came to rest inverted in a cornfield.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3WX
- Reported as
- Molino PIK-20
- Category
- Glider
- Serial number
- 20063
- Airframe hours
- 563
- Engine
- unknown
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Jake Alspaugh
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 4, 1993 · 34 hours before
- Departed
- 78A
- Destination
- 78A
- Airport
- 78A · Swan Creek, runway 10, 2,200 × 120 ft, grass/turf
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 38
- Certificate
- Private
- Medical
- Unknown, Unknown
- Seat
- Center
- Flight hours
- 404 total · 215 in this make and model · 396 as pilot in command · 67 in the last 90 days · 8 in the last 30 days · 6 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 330° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 88 °F, dew point 54 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- INT, 30 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.