- Date
- May 11, 2020, 15:00 local (19:00 UTC)
- Place
- Stuarts Draft, VA
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N514TWSchempp Hirth Ventus 2CT
- Defining event
- Maneuvering: Loss of lift
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA FSDO
- FAA report
- 20200511003469A
- Case key
- 101264
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
A loss of thermal lift during a motor glider flight, which resulted in an off-airport landing. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's delayed attempted engine start.
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
After departing on a local flight, the pilot of the motor glider crossed a ridge line into a valley at an altitude of about 8,000 ft mean sea level, and then glided to the south in search of lift, but was unsuccessful. He decided to land on a brown, flat, field that appeared to be recently tilled. The pilot set up for a landing, and then deployed the glider's sustainer engine. The engine did not start, so he continued his approach to land. During the landing, the right wing struck the ground, the glider ground looped, and was substantially damaged. The flight manual for the sustainer engine advised that, the sustainer engine should only be extended and started when there was suitable terrain for landing within gliding distance, and furthermore, below 984 ft above ground level, starting attempts were to be avoided "so as to have a safe height left for planning the approach pattern should the engine fail to run!" The pilot stated that there was no mechanical malfunction or failure with the glider, and that he would recommend trying to start the sustainer engine at a higher altitude.
Factual narrative
After departing on a local flight, the pilot of the motor glider crossed a ridge line into a valley at an altitude of about 8,000 ft mean sea level, and then glided to the south in search of lift, but was unsuccessful. He decided to land on a brown, flat, field that appeared to be recently tilled. The pilot set up for a landing, and then deployed the glider's sustainer engine. The engine did not start, so he continued his approach to land. During the landing, the right wing struck the ground, the glider ground looped, and was substantially damaged. The flight manual for the sustainer engine advised that, the sustainer engine should only be extended and started when there was suitable terrain for landing within gliding distance, and furthermore, below 984 ft above ground level, starting attempts were to be avoided "so as to have a safe height left for planning the approach pattern should the engine fail to run!" The pilot stated that there was no mechanical malfunction or failure with the glider, and that he would recommend trying to start the sustainer engine at a higher altitude..
Aircraft
- Registration
- N514TW
- Reported as
- Schempp Hirth Ventus 2CT (No Series)
- Category
- Glider
- Serial number
- 191
- Built
- 2007
- Airframe hours
- 2,150.6
- Engine
- Solo 2350, 26 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Condition · January 26, 2020
- Departed
- 2VA3 · Amelia Court House, VA
- Destination
- 2VA3 · Amelia Court House, VA
- Equipment
- Electronic multifunction display, ADS-B, Electronic flight bag or handheld device
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
- 59
- Injuries
- Minor
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Multi-engine sea, Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- March 2, 2020
- Seat
- Single
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 18,000 total · 142 in this make and model · 13,732 as pilot in command · 81 in the last 90 days · 46 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 300° at 16 knots, gusting 21
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 5,500 ft broken
- Temperature
- 54 °F, dew point 32 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.03 inHg
- Observed at
- SHD, 12 nm away
Docket · 5
The files NTSB released with the investigation on June 29, 2020, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 3.8 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.
Other investigations on N514TW · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.