- Date
- April 19, 1997, 14:42 local (21:42 UTC)
- Place
- Hemet, CA
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N90620Let Blanik L-13
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 4, 1998
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19970419006229A
- Case key
- 29776
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 failure to adjust his traffic pattern to compensate for local atmospheric conditions.
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 aircraft landed approximately 1 statute mile short of the runway in soft, rough terrain, and hit a fence after landing. A glider pilot who had landed previously stated that she had encountered a large area of sinking air on the downwind leg of the traffic pattern.
Factual narrative
On April 19, 1997, at 1442 hours Pacific daylight time, a Blanik L-13 glider, N90620, collided with the ground approximately 1 statute mile short of the Hemet-Ryan glider port in Hemet, California. The aircraft incurred substantial damage when it impacted a fence after landing, and the private pilot received serious injuries. The flight originated at the Hemet-Ryan airport at approximately 1350 on a planned 1-hour local flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed for the personal flight.
A glider pilot who had previously landed at Hemet-Ryan stated that she had encountered a large area of sinking air on the downwind leg of the traffic pattern.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N90620
- Reported as
- Let Blanik L-13 (BLANIK L-1)
- Category
- Glider
- Serial number
- 025616
- Airframe hours
- 2,160
- Engine
- unknown
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Orange County Soaring Assn
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal; Standard, Aerobatic
- Last inspection
- Annual · July 21, 1996 · 146 hours before
- Departed
- HMT
- Airport
- HMT · Hemet-Ryan
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
- 75
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Expired
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 183 total · 17 in this make and model · 140 as pilot in command · 6 in the last 90 days · 3 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 250° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 79 °F, dew point 21 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- KRA, 28 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.