- Date
- July 15, 2021, 16:00 local (20:00 UTC)
- Place
- Sterling, MA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N129MGAlexander Schleicher ASW 27-18
- Defining event
- Takeoff: Loss of control on ground
- 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
- 20210715010749A
- Case key
- 103721
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 the glider’s stability in the roll axis during the takeoff roll, which resulted in a dragged wingtip and ground loop.
Findings · 2
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, there was a slight depression in the narrow, paved strip used for glider takeoffs, and that during the takeoff roll, the left wing “flexed” and “dipped” such that the wingtip contacted the turf which created the pivot point around which the glider “ground-looped” which fractured the empennage aft of the cockpit. The pilot added that there had been “3 weeks of heavy rain” prior to the day of the accident and that the grass on either side of the takeoff strip was longer than usual, which reduced his wingtip clearance. He stated that while he had successfully departed the strip earlier that day, a lower grass height would have lowered his risk exposure during the takeoff run. The pilot reported that there were no pre-accident mechanical malfunctions or anomalies that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N129MG
- Reported as
- Alexander Schleicher ASW 27-18
- Category
- Glider
- Serial number
- 29081
- Built
- 2012
- Airframe hours
- 472
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · November 1, 2020
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- 3B3 · Sterling, runway 34, 2,800 × 10 ft, asphalt
- 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
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 70
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Last flight review
- July 15, 2020
- Seat
- Single
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 3,216 total · 435 in this make and model · 323 as pilot in command · 63 in the last 90 days · 21 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 230° at 9 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 88 °F, dew point 61 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.04 inHg
- Observed at
- KFIT, 8 nm away
- METAR
- KFIT 151952Z AUTO 23009KT 10SM CLR 31/16 A3004 RMK AO2 SLP171 T03060161 TSNO=
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on May 4, 2022, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 7.0 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.