- Date
- June 1, 2014, 16:45 local (20:45 UTC)
- Place
- Middletown, NY
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N7638Schweizer SGS 1 34
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Loss of control in flight
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report July 30, 2014
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20140601007021A
- Case key
- 89335
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 failure to maintain directional control during a bounced landing.
Findings · 3
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
According to the pilot, she flew the glider into the landing pattern and checked the airbrakes. She lined the glider up to land on the grass runway, but landed close to its right side where other aircraft were parked. Upon touchdown, the glider bounced. The pilot added left stick and rudder, but the glider veered to the right and hit an airplane parked off side of the runway, resulting in substantial damage to the glider's right wing. The pilot did not report any preexisting mechanical anomalies that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
According to the pilot, she flew the glider into the landing pattern and checked the airbrakes. She lined the glider up to land on the grass runway, but landed close to its right side where other aircraft were parked. Upon touchdown, the glider bounced. The pilot added left stick and rudder, but the glider veered to the right and hit an airplane parked off side of the runway, resulting in substantial damage to the glider's right wing. The pilot did not report any preexisting mechanical anomalies that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7638
- Reported as
- Schweizer SGS 1 34
- Category
- Glider
- Serial number
- 18
- Built
- 1970
- Airframe hours
- 2,176
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Valley Soaring Club Inc
- Registered owner
- Valley Soaring Club Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · July 16, 2013
- Departed
- 06N · Middletown, NY
- Destination
- 06N · Middletown, NY
- Airport
- 06N · Randall Airport, runway 8, 2,811 × 90 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
- 36
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Last flight review
- October 7, 2012
- Seat
- Single
- Flight hours
- 87 total · 1 in this make and model · 19 as pilot in command · 3 in the last 90 days · 3 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Variable at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 64 °F, dew point 52 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.35 inHg
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on June 16, 2014, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 345 KB 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.