- Date
- February 15, 2024, 17:10 local (22:10 UTC)
- Place
- Polk City, FL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N429SHAlexander Schleicher ASW 27-18
- Defining event
- Enroute-cruise: 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
- 20240215005449I
- Case key
- 193828
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 glider pilot’s misjudged altitude, which resulted in an off-airport landing and collision with a fence.
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 of the glider reported that prior to the accident flight, he had not flown in over 90 days. The purpose of the accident flight was to refamiliarize himself with the tasking area of an upcoming soaring contest, with a general aim to stay within gliding distance of the departure gliderport. For about 2 hours, the pilot flew south of the gliderport at altitudes between 3,000 to 4,000 ft above ground level. He then encountered weaker soaring conditions and miscalculated his altitude by 300 ft due to a discrepancy between the glider’s primary altimeter and the altitude displayed on his GPS/moving map computer. By that time, he was too low to glide back to the gliderport and elected to land in a field about 5 miles southeast of it. During the landing, the left wing struck a fence and sustained substantial damage. The pilot added that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions with the glider.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N429SH
- Reported as
- Alexander Schleicher ASW 27-18 (NO SERIES)
- Category
- Glider
- Serial number
- 29032
- Built
- 2008
- Airframe hours
- 1,624
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · January 11, 2024
- Departed
- 6FL0 · Groveland, FL
- Equipment
- Data recorder
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
- 71
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Last flight review
- August 20, 2023
- Seat
- Single
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 1,948 total · 344 in this make and model · 1,908 as pilot in command · 0 in the last 90 days · 0 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 10° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 73 °F, dew point 52 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.16 inHg
- Observed at
- GIF, 15 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KGIF 152153Z AUTO 36004KT 10SM CLR 23/11 A3016
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 12, 2024, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.4 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.