- Date
- March 29, 1986, 13:25 local (20:25 UTC)
- Place
- Colorado Spring, CO
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N96JHRolladen-Schneider L53
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19860329008269A
- Case key
- 16942
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
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.
In flight encounter with weather
Weather condition - turbulenceFactor
Weather condition - windshearFactor
Loss of control - in flight
Climb - not possibleFactor
Go-around - not possibleFactor
Descent - uncontrolledCause
In flight collision with terrain/water
Planned approach - not maintainedCause
Weather evaluation - inadequateCause
Analysis
The acft was making a landing due to an approaching thunderstorm. On final, the glider encountered moderate to severe turbulence and at 300 ft AGL, the glider was forced onto the ground by a microburst.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N96JH
- Reported as
- Rolladen-Schneider L53
- Category
- Glider
- Serial number
- 3050
- Engine
- unknown
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- J.T. Berger, Jr. T.F. Devereux
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Airport
- CO26 · Black Forest Glider Port
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
- 56
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Flight hours
- 342 total · 65 in this make and model · 324 as pilot in command · 6 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 270° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 65 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 9,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 70 °F, dew point 18 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- COS, 10 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.