- Date
- June 4, 2020, 17:15 local (22:15 UTC)
- Place
- Alvarado, TX
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N24HCGlasflugel Mosquito
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- Flight Standards District Office
- FAA report
- 20200604011799A
- Case key
- 101405
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 decision to divert to the private airport and his subsequent failure to maintain directional control while landing on a turf runway that contained tall grass.
Findings · 4
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The glider pilot reported that due to a weakening of soaring updraft conditions he diverted from his original destination to another airport that he had landed at on previous occasions. While on short final, the pilot noticed the turf runway had not been mowed recently. During the landing rollout, due to long grass blocking his field of view, the pilot was unable to maintain directional control and the glider impacted a fence to the left of the runway, damaging the left wing and fuselage. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the glider that would have precluded normal operation. The diversion airport was a private airport that required prior approval for landing.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N24HC
- Reported as
- Glasflugel Mosquito (Undesignat)
- Category
- Glider
- Serial number
- 54
- Built
- 1977
- Airframe hours
- 1,390
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · November 9, 2019
- Departed
- TA11 · Midlothian, TX
- Destination
- TA11 · Midlothian, TX
- Airport
- 6XS2 · Luscombe Acres, runway 20, 1,650 × 80 ft, grass/turf
- Equipment
- Data recorder, Electronic multifunction display
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
- 65
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Last flight review
- April 27, 2019
- Seat
- Center
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 457 total · 211 in this make and model · 425 as pilot in command · 6 in the last 90 days · 6 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 150° at 11 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 93 °F, dew point 72 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.84 inHg
- Observed at
- KCPT, 12 nm away
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on July 24, 2020, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 3.5 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.