- Date
- August 22, 1993, 11:10 local (16:10 UTC)
- Place
- Hinckley, IL
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N422BGBurkhart Grob G103
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report October 20, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19930822030119A
- Case key
- 9290
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 failure of the cockpit canopy.
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 solo student pilot was on final approach for landing when he heard a loud crack and something struck him in the face and knocked his glasses off. He then noticed that the cockpit canopy was broken and open, and that the nose of the sailplane was low. He pulled the nose up just as the sailplane landed hard. A nearby witness reported seeing something fly off the sailplane just before the hard landing. Postaccident inspection failed to discover why the canopy broke/opened.
Factual narrative
On August 22, 1993, about 1110 central daylight time, a Grob G103 sailplane, N422BG, sustained substantial damage during a hard landing at Hinckley Airport, Hinckley, Illinois. The solo student pilot incurred minor injury. Visual meteorological conditions existed for the local, instructional flight. The flight originated about 1059 without flight plan and operated under 14 CFR 91.
The pilot stated that while on final approach for landing, at an estimated altitude of 20', he heard a loud crack and was struck in the face by something that knocked his glasses off. He then noticed that the canopy was open and broken, and that the sailplane was in a nose low attitude. He said he was pulling the nose up as the sailplane landed hard.
A witness on the ground approximately 300 feet away, saw an object coming off the nose of the sailplane as the Grob was on final approach to land.
A postaccident examination of the canopy and sailplane failed to discover why the canopy opened/broke in-flight.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N422BG
- Reported as
- Burkhart Grob G103
- Category
- Glider
- Serial number
- 3711
- Airframe hours
- 2,190
- Engine
- unknown
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Hinckley Soaring
- Registered owner
- Hinckley Soaring
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Provisional (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 25, 1993 · 60 hours before
- Airport
- 0C2 · Hinckley, runway 27, 2,600 × 300 ft, 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
- 41
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Unknown
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 15 total · 1 in this make and model · 6 as pilot in command · 1 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 180° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 10,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 75 °F, dew point 64 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.