- Date
- December 1, 1995, 14:18 local (22:18 UTC)
- Place
- Adelanto, CA
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N6LSLaister LP-15
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 20, 1996
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19951201039509A
- Case key
- 29346
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 selection of the wrong runway for the prevailing wind conditions, and his failure to maintain an adequate airspeed during the base-to-final turn.
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 entered the airstrip traffic pattern and set up for a downwind final approach to runway 9. The windsocks were indicating a wind from the west at 10-12 knots and favored a landing to the west. An FAA designated pilot examiner for gliders witnessed the accident and reported that the speed and altitude of the glider was slow and low. The glider began a base-to-final turn about 50-75 feet AGL and the left wing of the glider dropped. The examiner said the glider appeared to stall and then descend to ground impact.
Factual narrative
On December 1, 1995, at 1418 hours Pacific standard time, a Laister Sailplane LP-15, N6LS, collided with the ground during the base-to-final turn while landing at Krey Field, Adelanto, California. The glider was operated as a personal flight when the accident occurred. The glider was destroyed and the certificated private pilot was seriously injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed.
Witnesses reported the pilot was towed toward the east to an altitude of 3,000 feet above ground level (agl), and the weather conditions at the time of landing favored a landing to the west. The glider was observed on a downwind leg of the traffic pattern heading west into the wind.
An FAA designated pilot examiner for gliders witnessed the accident. The speed and altitude of the glider was reported as slow and low. During the base-to-final turn for runway 09 about 50-75 feet agl, the left wing of the glider was observed to drop. The witness said the glider appeared to stall and then descend to ground impact.
Examination of the glider by the airport manager after the accident did not reveal any evidence of mechanical failure or malfunction. The field is equipped with three windsocks. According to witnesses, the windsocks were indicating a wind from the west at 10-12 knots at the time of the accident.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6LS
- Reported as
- Laister LP-15
- Category
- Glider
- Serial number
- N1
- Engine
- unknown
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Elwood M. Inkster
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 15, 1995
- Departed
- 0CL1 · CA
- Airport
- 0CL1 · Krey Field, runway 9, 3,360 × 250 ft, dirt
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
- Front
- Flight hours
- 299 total · 2 in this make and model · 219 as pilot in command · 14 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 270° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.