- Date
- September 17, 2015, 17:00 local (21:00 UTC)
- Place
- Wellington, OH
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N3872GBurkhart Grob Flugzeugbau G103 Twin Astir
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Abnormal runway contact
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Status
- Completed · report December 17, 2015
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- General Aviation Accidents
- Parties
- Cleveland FSDO (FAA)
- FAA report
- 20150917017939A
- Case key
- 92182
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 level the wings during the landing flare, which resulted in the left wing striking the runway.
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 a glider reported that he encountered a "heavy sink" on the downwind leg in the traffic pattern. He immediately made a left steep turn toward the runway, but the left wing impacted terrain during the turn to final. Subsequently, the tail section of fuselage impacted the runway, and the glider came to rest on the runway surface. The fuselage sustained substantial damage. About the time of the accident at an airport 11 nautical miles north of the destination airport, the wind was reported at 210 degrees true at 8 knots, the sky condition was clear, temperature was 27 degrees Celsius (80 degrees Fahrenheit), and dew point was 13 degrees Celsius (55 degrees Fahrenheit). The pilot reported there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the glider that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
The pilot of a glider reported that he encountered a "heavy sink" on the downwind leg in the traffic pattern. He immediately made a left steep turn toward the runway, but the left wing impacted terrain during the turn to final. Subsequently, the tail section of fuselage impacted the runway, and the glider came to rest on the runway surface. The fuselage sustained substantial damage. About the time of the accident at an airport 11 nautical miles north of the destination airport, the wind was reported at 210 degrees true at 8 knots, the sky condition was clear, temperature was 27 degrees Celsius (80 degrees Fahrenheit), and dew point was 13 degrees Celsius (55 degrees Fahrenheit). The pilot reported there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the glider that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3872G
- Reported as
- Burkhart Grob Flugzeugbau G103 Twin Astir (TWIN II)
- Category
- Glider
- Serial number
- 3777
- Built
- 1983
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Fun Country Soaring Inc
- Registered owner
- Fun Country Soaring Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- 67D · Wellington, OH
- Destination
- 67D · Wellington, OH
- Airport
- 67D · Reader-Botsford, runway 36, 2,850 × 100 ft, grass/turf
- Equipment
- None
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 79
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Last flight review
- September 3, 2015
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 429 total · 167 in this make and model · 8.6 in the last 90 days · 2.2 in the last 30 days · 0.3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Wind
- 210° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 81 °F, dew point 55 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.06 inHg
- Observed at
- KLPR, 11 nm away
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on December 11, 2015, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.8 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.