- Date
- August 28, 2006, 16:35 local (23:35 UTC)
- Place
- Truckee, CA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N302NGlaser Dirks DG 300
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 28, 2006
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20060828017829A
- Case key
- 64424
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 misjudged landing approach that led to a runway overshoot. A contributing factor was the pilot's hypoxic condition.
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
The pilot became hypoxic during the flight and attempted to land at an airport. During the landing attempt, he overshot the runway and landed in a nearby field. According to the pilot, he was aloft in the glider for 4 hours at altitudes in excess of 10,000 feet mean sea level. During the flight he began to experience symptoms of hypoxia. He attempted to land at Truckee but overshot the runway and landed in a field beyond the runway. The pilot suspected that the cannula-type oxygen system in the glider may have not been supplying adequate oxygen because he was breathing through his mouth.
Factual narrative
On August 28, 2006, at 1635 Pacific daylight time, a Glaser Dirks DG 300 glider, N302N, overshot the runway at Truckee-Tahoe Airport, Truckee, California. The pilot landed the glider in a nearby field and the empennage fractured from the structure. The private pilot (foreign-based) was operating the glider, which was registered to a private individual, under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. The pilot was not injured; however, the glider sustained substantial damage. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed. The pilot departed from Truckee-Tahoe Airport at 1300, and was landing when the accident occurred.
According to the pilot, he was aloft in the glider for 4 hours at altitudes in excess of 10,000 feet mean sea level. During the flight he began to experience symptoms of hypoxia. He attempted to land at Truckee but overshot the runway and landed in a field beyond the runway. The pilot suspected that the cannula-type oxygen system in the glider may have not been supplying adequate oxygen because he was breathing through his mouth.
The owner of the glider reported that following the accident, the oxygen and flow meter system functioned normally.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N302N
- Reported as
- Glaser Dirks DG 300
- Category
- Glider
- Serial number
- 3E15
- Engine
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Departed
- TRK · Truckee, CA
- Destination
- TRK · Truckee-Tahoe, NV
- Airport
- TRK · Truckee-Tahoe Airport, runway 1, 4,650 × 75 ft, asphalt
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
- 66
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Flight hours
- 2,000 total · 25 in this make and model · 15 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.