- Date
- July 1, 1989, 15:30 local (22:30 UTC)
- Place
- Montague, CA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N124HHHomebuilt BG 12 B-D
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 30, 1991
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890701018769A
- Case key
- 26170
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
Pilot misjudged the airplane's altitude and failed to extend the spoilers.
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 glider flight was returning to the airport after completing a local soaring flight. The glider's altitude was too low to execute a normal downwind pattern entry and the pilot elected to enter the base leg. The plt reported that the base leg entry altitude was abt 200 - 300 ft above the normal base leg altitude and that the glider landed long and ran off the departure end of the runway. The plt elected to ground loop the airplane to avoid colliding with a fence after the glider exited the runway environment.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N124HH
- Reported as
- Homebuilt BG 12 B-D
- Category
- Glider, amateur-built
- Serial number
- HH1
- Airframe hours
- 346
- Engine
- unknown
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- James Morrison Taylor
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 2, 1989 · 2 hours before
- Airport
- 105 · Montague, runway 32, 3,360 × 50 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
- 68
- Certificate
- Private
- Seat
- Center
- Flight hours
- 115 total · 55 in this make and model · 2 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 360° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 30 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 90 °F, dew point 30 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.