- Date
- September 22, 2018, 15:00 local (19:00 UTC)
- Place
- Groveland, FL
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N72EJGrob G103 Twin Astir
- Defining event
- Landing: Hard landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 3
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20180922019189I
- Case key
- 98381
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 relinquish the flight controls during landing when the flight instructor told him to do so, and the instructor’s subsequent inability to properly control the glider, which led to a hard landing.
Findings · 4
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 flight instructor and student pilot were conducting an instructional flight. The flight instructor reported that, during the landing, he told the student, “I have the flight controls”; however, the student did not relinquish them. As a result, the instructor was unable to control the glider, which resulted in a hard landing and the student pilot sustaining serious injuries.
Factual narrative
On September 22, 2018, about 1500 eastern daylight time, a Grob G103 Twin Astir glider, N72EJ, sustained minor damage when it was involved in an accident in Groveland, Florida. The flight instructor was not injured, and the student pilot was seriously injured. The glider was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 instructional flight. The flight instructor reported that, during landing, he told the student pilot, “I have the controls”; however, the student pilot did not relinquish them. The flight instructor added that he was unable to control the glider, which resulted in a hard landing and the student pilot sustaining serious injuries.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N72EJ
- Reported as
- Grob G103 Twin Astir (TWIN ASTIR)
- Category
- Glider
- Serial number
- 3253-T-30
- Built
- 1979
- Airframe hours
- 3,560
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Seminole Flying & Soaring Inc
- Registered owner
- Seminole Flying & Soaring Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 8, 2018
- Departed
- 6FL0 · Groveland, FL
- Destination
- 6FL0 · Groveland, FL
- Airport
- 6FL0 · Seminole Lake, runway 36, 3,000 × 200 ft, grass/turf
- Equipment
- Unknown
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 · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Flight instructor
- Age
- 52
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine sea, Single-engine sea, Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- September 5, 2017
- Seat
- Rear
- Flight hours
- 12,122 total · 2,000 in this make and model · 10,993 as pilot in command · 400 in the last 90 days · 165 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Student pilot
- Age
- 55
- Injuries
- Serious
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Unknown
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 15 total · 12 in this make and model · 0 as pilot in command · 15 in the last 90 days · 15 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 100° at 11 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 90 °F, dew point 70 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- GIF, 21 nm away
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on June 17, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.9 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.