- Date
- April 15, 2023, 15:11 local (19:11 UTC)
- Place
- Wake Forest, NC
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N33873Schweizer SGS 1-26E
- Defining event
- Landing: Aerodynamic stall/spin
- 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
- FAA report
- 20230415004031A
- Case key
- 107132
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 maintain airspeed during the landing approach, which resulted in an exceedance of the glider’s critical angle of attack, an aerodynamic stall, and a loss of control.
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 student pilot of the glider, another glider was still on the runway as he was entering the downwind leg of the airport traffic pattern for landing. He decided to land short of the turf runway and entered the glider into a forward slip in order to touch down in the intended area. He reported that, upon removing the slip, he noted that the airspeed decayed “from 60 to 30,” and about 40 to 45 ft above the ground, he realized that the glider was “stalled” and that he “had no control over the aircraft.” The glider impacted a parked tow airplane and terrain, resulting in substantial damage to the leading edge of the left wing and the aft fuselage. The student pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the glider that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N33873
- Reported as
- Schweizer SGS 1-26E
- Category
- Glider
- Serial number
- 615
- Built
- 1974
- Airframe hours
- 1,425
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- North Carolina Soaring Association
- Registered owner
- North Carolina Soaring Association
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 1, 2022
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- 7NC5 · Crooked Creek, runway 22, 2,500 × 50 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
- Student pilot
- Age
- 16
- Injuries
- Minor
- Seat
- Single
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 25 total · 25 in this make and model · 10 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 260° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 1,400 ft broken
- Temperature
- 64 °F, dew point 59 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.98 inHg
- Observed at
- KLHZ, 11 nm away
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on June 29, 2023, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.5 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.