- Date
- July 19, 2025, 13:36 local (18:36 UTC)
- Place
- Kerrick, TX
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N4426ZPZL Swidnik PW-5
- Defining event
- Enroute: Loss of lift
- 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
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20250719010259A
- Case key
- 200600
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 glider’s encounter with atmospheric conditions where the lift was not sufficient to maintain flight.
Findings · 2
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 reported that while flying his glider, he was unable to maintain enough altitude to return to the departure airport, so he performed a forced landing to an alternate airport with a closed runway. During the landing rollout, the right wing of the glider struck a metal fence post, The glider pivoted and the left wing struck the barbed wire. The pilot said that he did not see the fence post because of the vegetation covering it. Both wings were substantially damaged. The pilot stated that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the glider that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4426Z
- Reported as
- PZL Swidnik PW-5
- Category
- Glider
- Serial number
- 17.09.012
- Built
- 1997
- Airframe hours
- 2,034
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 22, 2025
- Departed
- 89TA · Waller, TX
- Destination
- 89TA · Waller, TX
- Airport
- 5TE4 · Perkins-Protho Cimarron Ranch Airport, runway 19, 2,500 × 35 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- ADS-B
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
- 71
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Commercial, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- April 12, 2025
- Seat
- Center
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 20,400 total · 22 in this make and model · 27 in the last 90 days · 11 in the last 30 days · 0.6 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 25,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 93 °F, dew point 72 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.07 inHg
- Observed at
- KIAH, 35 nm away
- METAR
- KIAH 191853Z VRB06KT 10SM FEW048 SCT060 SCT090 BKN250 34/22 A3007
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on September 5, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.8 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.