- Date
- August 6, 2025, 14:57 local (19:57 UTC)
- Place
- Monee, IL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N65818Schweizer SGS 2-33A
- Defining event
- Approach-VFR pattern base: Controlled flight into terr/obj (CFIT)
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report October 17, 2025
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20250806012719A
- Case key
- 200737
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 student pilot’s failure to maintain airspeed and altitude resulting in a collision with the ground during the base to final turn.
Findings · 1
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 solo student pilot reported she was on downwind to land and noted she was a bit lower than usual so she turned base early to compensate. While on the base leg her recollection of events wasn’t clear. She remembered feeling task saturated and that she may not have maintained her altitude and airspeed resulting in the glider impacting the ground during the base to final turn. The glider came to rest upright on a flat grass field and the pilot was able to egress without further incident. The fuselage and right wing were substantially damaged. The pilot reported there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions of failures with the glider that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot further reported that the accident could have been prevented by paying closer attention to the glider’s altitude and airspeed while in the traffic pattern.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N65818
- Reported as
- Schweizer SGS 2-33A
- Category
- Glider
- Serial number
- 303
- Built
- 1973
- Airframe hours
- 4,841.9
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · February 5, 2025
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- C56 · Bult Fld
- 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
- 15
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 8 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 220° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 86 °F, dew point 63 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.22 inHg
- Observed at
- KIGQ, 12 nm away
- METAR
- KIGQ 061955Z AUTO 22005KT 10SM CLR 30/17 A3022 RMK AO2 T02970173
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on October 17, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 6.4 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.
Other investigations on N65818 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.