- Date
- April 12, 1998, 18:00 local (22:00 UTC)
- Place
- New Castle, VA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N55BRLet L-23
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 22, 2000
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19980412006519A
- Case key
- 28289
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 maintain adequate airspeed during the turn to reverse direction. A factor was his improper use of the speed brake.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
According to the student pilot, he had flown the glider for about an hour uneventfully. During the landing, he overshot runway 36 and tried to make a 180 degree turn, but the glider stalled, and the right wing struck the ground. The pilot said there was no mechanical malfunction with the glider, and during the approach, he had mistakenly pushed the dive brake lever full forward in an attempt to fully open the dive brakes. The airspeed had increased and he was half-way down the runway when he realized that he could not make a safe landing.
Factual narrative
On April 12, 1998, at 1800 eastern daylight time, N55BR, a Let L-23 glider, was substantially damaged when it collided with terrain during landing at the New Castle Airport, New Castle, Virginia. The student pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and a flight plan was not filed. The local, personal flight was conducted under 14 CFR Part 91.
According to the pilot he had flown for about an hour uneventfully. During the landing, he overshot runway 36, and he tried to make a 180 degree turn, but the glider stalled, and the right wing struck the ground.
The pilot had over 38 hours of total flight experience, including 23 hours in make and model. He said that there was no mechanical malfunction with the glider, and he mistakenly pushed the dive brake lever full forward in an attempt to fully open the dive brakes. The airspeed had increased, and he was half-way down the runway when he realized that he could not make a safe landing.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N55BR
- Reported as
- Let L-23
- Category
- Glider
- Serial number
- 928001
- Airframe hours
- 451
- Engine
- unknown
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Blue Ridge Soaring Society
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 3, 1998 · 21 hours before
- Departed
- VA85 · VA
- Airport
- VA85 · New Castle, runway 36, 2,600 × 300 ft, grass/turf
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
- 50
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Unknown
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 38 total · 24 in this make and model · 12 as pilot in command · 4 in the last 90 days · 4 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 66 °F, dew point 39 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- ROA, 13 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.