- Date
- August 10, 1990, 12:21 local (19:21 UTC)
- Place
- Liano, CA
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N4426BBurkhart Grob G-103
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 14, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19900810033249A
- Case key
- 26888
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 inflight decision was improper. Contributing to this accident was the pilot's self-induced pressure.
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 PIC was completing the third and final flight of a certified flight instructor's flight test. Before the flt the FAA inspector briefed the applicant that the flight would entail a simulated emergency tow rope break. At 280 ft AGL the inspector disengaged the tow rope and the applicant immediately executed a left 180 deg turn followed by a right descending nose down turn. This maneuver caused the glider to lose excessive altitude and the PIC was forced to land in the open field. During the landing roll-out the glider struck a large boulder, shrub tree and a barbed wire fence. The applicant stated that he didn't think the glider's altitude was sufficient to clear some wires at the end of the airport boundary but later calculated that the glide ratio would have been sufficient to negotiate the airport. He also stated that he was under extreme self-induced pressure due to the flight test.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4426B
- Reported as
- Burkhart Grob G-103
- Category
- Glider
- Engine
- unknown
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- John & Karen Stevenson
- Airport
- Crystal
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
- 44
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Medical
- Unknown
- Flight hours
- 122 total · 118 in this make and model · 89 as pilot in command · 22 in the last 90 days · 10 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point -0 °F
- Observed at
- PMD, 17 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.