- Date
- September 2, 2006, 16:00 local (21:00 UTC)
- Place
- Hampshire, IL
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N12YALet Blanik L-13
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 28, 2006
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 20060902026529A
- Case key
- 64530
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 inadequate approach for landing and his failure to attain a proper descent rate.
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 glider sustained substantial damage when it ground looped and skidded to a stop while landing at a grass airstrip. The pilot reported that after releasing from the tow airplane at 3,000 feet above ground level (agl), no thermal lift was encountered so he returned to the airstrip for landing. He reported that he experienced a sink rate that "seemed very excessive" during the downwind leg. He "cut the pattern short" and turned onto the base leg, which resulted in the glider being high on the base leg. The pilot reported that he deployed the spoilers, but he was slow to retract the spoilers due to the "heavy force required to push the handle forward." The glider lost altitude. The pilot reported that the left wing caught the grass about the same time the glider touched down with the nose about 20 degrees off the runway heading.
Factual narrative
The glider sustained substantial damage when it ground looped and skidded to a stop while landing at a grass airstrip. The pilot reported that after releasing from the tow airplane at 3,000 feet above ground level (agl), no thermal lift was encountered so he returned to the airstrip for landing. He reported that he experienced a sink rate that "seemed very excessive" during the downwind leg. He "cut the pattern short" and turned onto the base leg, which resulted in the glider being high on the base leg. The pilot reported that he deployed the spoilers, but he was slow to retract the spoilers due to the "heavy force required to push the handle forward." The glider lost altitude. The pilot reported that the left wing caught the grass about the same time the glider touched down with the nose about 20 degrees off the runway heading.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N12YA
- Reported as
- Let Blanik L-13
- Category
- Glider
- Serial number
- 025321
- Engine
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Sky Soaring Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- 55LL · Hampshire, IL
- Airport
- 55LL · Sky Soaring Airport, runway 27, 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
- 74
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea, Single-engine land, Multi-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2
- Flight hours
- 11,342 total · 10 in this make and model · 9 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Variable at 5 knots
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 N12YA · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.