- Date
- July 10, 2022, 19:30 local (23:30 UTC)
- Place
- Waynesville, OH
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N3616QSchweizer SGS 2-33A
- Defining event
- Maneuvering: Off-field or emergency landing
- 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
- 20220710011969A
- Case key
- 105535
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 loss of situational awareness (geographic position), which resulted in his inability to locate the intended landing runway and his decision to perform an off-airport landing.
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
The pilot, who held a private pilot certificate with an airplane single-engine land rating, was transitioning to flying gliders and had about 27 hours of glider flying experience at the time of the accident. On the afternoon of the accident flight he had completed two instructional flights before being signed off for his first solo flight. After departing on the solo flight, the pilot released the glider from the tow airplane at the planned altitude of 2,000 ft above ground level (agl). The pilot knew he was about 2 miles from the departure airport, but he was having difficulty locating the turf runway due to the glare of the setting sun. After descending to about 1,100 ft agl, and still not being able to locate the runway, he selected a corn field for an off-airport landing. The glider’s fuselage and right wing were substantially damaged during the subsequent landing. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures of the glider that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3616Q
- Reported as
- Schweizer SGS 2-33A
- Category
- Glider
- Serial number
- 567
- Built
- 1981
- Airframe hours
- 3,818
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Soaring Society Of Dayton Inc
- Registered owner
- Soaring Society Of Dayton Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 26, 2022
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- 2OH9 · Caesar Creek Soaring Club Gliderport, runway 9, 2,800 × 150 ft, grass/turf
- Equipment
- None
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
- 72
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- January 4, 2022
- Seat
- Front
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 570.3 total · 27.6 in this make and model · 459.8 as pilot in command · 9.9 in the last 90 days · 2.7 in the last 30 days · 0.9 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 100° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 79 °F, dew point 64 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.98 inHg
- Observed at
- MGY, 8 nm away
- METAR
- KMGY 102353Z AUTO 10003KT 10SM CLR 26/18 A2998 RMK AO2 SLP144 T02610178 10300 20261 56006
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 24, 2023, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 9.1 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.