- Date
- June 29, 2019, 11:00 local (15:00 UTC)
- Place
- Blairstown, NJ
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 1 uninjured
- Damage
- No damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N2894HSchweizer SGS233
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Hard landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 16, 2020
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- General Aviation Accidents
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20190629008459A
- Case key
- 99815
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 improper landing flare and the flight instructor's delayed remedial action, which resulted in a hard landing and the instructor sustaining a serious injury.
Findings · 3
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 flight instructor reported that, while on final approach to land on a grass field adjacent to the runway and with the student pilot on the controls, a gyrocopter lifted off toward his glider. The student maneuvered away from the gyrocopter and then continued the approach. During the landing, the student flared too high, and despite the instructor's intervention, the glider landed hard. The glider was not damaged; however, the instructor sustained a serious injury. The instructor reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the glider that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
The glider flight instructor reported that, while on final approach for the grass field adjacent to the runway with the student pilot on controls, a gyrocopter lifted off towards the glider. The student maneuvered away, then continued the approach. During the landing the student flared too high, and despite the instructor's intervention, the glider landed hard. The glider was not damaged, however, the flight instructor sustained a serious injury. The instructor reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2894H
- Reported as
- Schweizer SGS233 (A)
- Category
- Glider
- Serial number
- 524
- Built
- 1978
- Damage
- No damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Jersey Ridge Soaring LLC
- Registered owner
- Jersey Ridge Soaring LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Other
- Departed
- 1N7 · Blairstown, NJ
- Destination
- 1N7 · Blairstown, NJ
- Airport
- 1N7 · Blairstown, runway 07, 3,112 × 70 ft, grass/turf
- Equipment
- Unknown
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 · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Flight instructor
- Age
- 60
- Injuries
- Serious
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- December 3, 2017
- Seat
- Rear
- Flight hours
- 1,811 total · 250 in this make and model · 48 in the last 90 days
- Role
- Student pilot
- Age
- 51
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Seat
- Front
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 17, 2020, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 194 KB 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.