- Date
- June 13, 2020, 16:30 local (20:30 UTC)
- Place
- Brookline, NH
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N783THPipistrel Pipistrel Sinus 912
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Abnormal runway contact
- 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
- 20200613006069A
- Case key
- 101436
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 airspeed while landing with a quartering tailwind, which resulted in a loss of control and a hard 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
The pilot of the experimental, amateur-built motor glider was landing on a 1,926-ft-long, 24-ft-wide runway with about a 6 knot quartering tailwind. During his first attempted landing the motor glider was high and fast on approach and the pilot elected to go-around. During his second attempt, the motor glider was also high and fast but the pilot elected to continue the approach to landing, using full air brakes and wing flaps. During the approach, he slowed the motor glider to 40 knots (6 knots above stall speed), and the motor glider then seemed to drop from about 10 ft above the runway and land hard. The right landing gear leg collapsed, and the motor glider veered off the right side of the runway, struck a vertical approach slope indicator, and was substantially damaged. Review of the Pilot's Operating Handbook revealed that the final approach speed should always be 55 knots with full flaps regardless of approaching with zero or full airbrakes. The pilot reported that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the motor glider that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N783TH
- Reported as
- Pipistrel Pipistrel Sinus 912 (No Series)
- Category
- Glider, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 467 S 912 KIT
- Built
- 2019
- Airframe hours
- 10
- Engine
- Rotax 912 UL2, 80 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Condition · July 12, 2019 · 10 hours before
- Departed
- NH16 · Brookline, NH
- Destination
- NH16 · Brookline, NH
- Airport
- NH16 · Brookline, runway 19, 1,926 × 24 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Angle of attack indicator, Auto-pilot, Data recorder, Electronic multifunction display, Electronic primary flight display, Onboard weather, ADS-B, Airframe parachute
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
- 79
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- September 20, 2018
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 770 total · 10 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 320° at 9 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 7,500 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 72 °F, dew point 39 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.15 inHg
- Observed at
- KASH, 9 nm away
Docket · 6
The files NTSB released with the investigation on October 9, 2020, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 8.5 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.