- Date
- November 9, 1986, 14:25 local (21:25 UTC)
- Place
- Sun City, AZ
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N7558Schweizer SGS2-33A
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19861109058879A
- Case key
- 25468
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
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
While on a solo instructional flight, the pilot was unable to find sufficient lift & decided to turn back toward the airport for landing. Due to his low altitude, he was not able to fly a normal pattern entry. A downwind landing was attempted; however, before reaching the runway, other aircraft were departing. The pilot paralleled the runway still anticipating a normal landing. While turning toward the runway, the glider encountered an additional loss of altitude. The pilot was unable to land on the runway. He attempted to glide to another landing spot, but the glider's left wing tip collided with a saguaro cactus about 250 to 300 yards short of the runway. The pilot had 1053 hrs of flight time in single engine aircraft, but only 11.9 hrs in gliders. According to FAA records, he held only a student pilot certificate.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7558
- Reported as
- Schweizer SGS2-33A
- Category
- Glider
- Serial number
- 188
- Airframe hours
- 1,476
- Engine
- unknown UNK, unknown
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Michael W. Mullane
- Registered owner
- Baboquavani Soaring School
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · October 19, 1986 · 52 hours before
- Departed
- Sun City, AZ
- Airport
- Pleasant Valley, runway 23, 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
- 43
- Certificate
- Student
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 1,065 total · 11 in this make and model · 845 as pilot in command · 3 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 210° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 70 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 75 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- DVT, 11 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.
Other investigations on N7558 · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.