- Date
- September 1, 2018, 16:00 local (21:00 UTC)
- Place
- Burnet, TX
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N34107Schweizer SGS 1 35
- Defining event
- Landing: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 26, 2019
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- General Aviation Accidents
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20180901012729A
- Case key
- 98304
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 extend the landing gear before landing and to use the Before Landing checklist.
Findings · 4
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 in the retractable-landing gear-equipped glider reported that, during flight, he could no longer find lift, so he selected a field for landing. During the approach, he did not use the Before Landing checklist, and he forgot to extend the landing gear. The glider landed on the lower fuselage and skidded across the grass surface before it collided with a barbed wire fence. The glider sustained substantial damage to the canopy, fuselage, and rudder. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the glider that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
The pilot in the retractable landing gear-equipped glider, reported that during flight he could no longer find lift, and selected a field for landing. During the approach, he did not use the before landing checklist, and he forgot to extend his landing gear. The glider landed on the lower fuselage and skidded across the grass surface before it collided with a barbed wire fence. The glider sustained substantial damage to the canopy, the fuselage, and the rudder. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the glider that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N34107
- Reported as
- Schweizer SGS 1 35 (Undesignat)
- Category
- Glider
- Serial number
- 50
- Built
- 1975
- Airframe hours
- 989.38
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 18, 2018
- Departed
- TX23 · Briggs, TX
- Destination
- TX23 · Briggs, TX
- Equipment
- Handheld GPS
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
- 81
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Sport pilot, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- November 20, 2016
- Seat
- Single
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 2,692 total · 340 in this make and model · 2,650 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 95 °F, dew point 64 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.89 inHg
- Observed at
- KBMQ
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on June 13, 2019, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 3.9 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.