- Date
- September 29, 2020, 13:50 local (18:50 UTC)
- Place
- Hinckley, IL
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N721WCSchleicher ASK21
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Abnormal runway contact
- 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
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20200929017129A
- Case key
- 102064
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 improper control input during a bounced landing that resulted in the glider impacting terrain.
Findings · 3
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 pilot and passenger were landing after their second flight of the day. The pilot reported that during the landing he flared late, and the glider touched down on the main landing gear and bounced back into the air. The pilot pushed the control stick forward and the glider impacted the runway on its nose wheel resulting in substantial damage to the left side of the fuselage. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the glider that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N721WC
- Reported as
- Schleicher ASK21 (NO SERIES)
- Category
- Glider
- Serial number
- 21650
- Airframe hours
- 3,121
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Windy City Soaring Association
- Registered owner
- Windy City Soaring Association
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Other
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 1, 2020 · 3,121 hours before
- Departed
- 0C2 · Hinckley, IL
- Airport
- 02C · Hinckley Airport, runway 27, 2,640 × 100 ft, grass/turf
- Equipment
- None
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
- 72
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Last flight review
- April 14, 2019
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 1,273 total · 77 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 260° at 12 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 3,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 55 °F, dew point 46 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.85 inHg
- Observed at
- KARR, 8 nm away
- METAR
- KARR 291852Z 26012KT 10SM SCT023 BKN030 13/08 A2985 RMK AO2 SLP111 T01280078
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on July 14, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 586 KB 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.