- Date
- June 19, 1999, 15:00 local (22:00 UTC)
- Place
- Barstow, CA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N136ASLet Blanik L-13
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 14, 2001
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19990619024129A
- Case key
- 46640
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 loss of thermal lift that resulted in a forced landing and the pilot's improper glide path that resulted in a collision with a light pole.
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
During a cross-country flight, the pilot of the glider encountered a loss of thermal lift. A forced landing was made to a vacant, unattended, interstate highway rest stop. The rest stop was surrounded by level terrain. During the landing approach, the left wing contacted a light pole, shearing off the wing's outboard 6 feet.
Factual narrative
On June 19, 1999, at 1500 hours Pacific daylight time, a Blanik L-13, N136AS, collided with ground obstructions during a off-field landing 38 miles east of Barstow, California. The glider, operated by Antelope Valley Soaring Club, Canoga Park, California, sustained substantial damage. The commercial pilot, and sole occupant, was not injured. The 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight departed from a private airstrip at 1230. Visual meteorological conditions existed and no flight plan was filed.
In a written statement by the pilot, he was on a cross-country flight to Baker, California, and encountered a loss of lift, which made it impossible to make it to an airport. The glider was over level terrain and the pilot selected an off-field landing point located in a rest area along interstate I-15. The glider impacted a pole during the landing, causing the left wing to separate from the glider. The rest area was closed and no one was present at the time of the accident.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N136AS
- Reported as
- Let Blanik L-13 (BLANIK L-1)
- Category
- Glider
- Serial number
- 027017
- Airframe hours
- 3,491
- Engine
- unknown
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Antelope Valley Soaring Club
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · August 22, 1998 · 375 hours before
- Departed
- DAG · Daggett, CA
- Destination
- 0O2 · Baker, CA
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
- 47
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Student, Commercial, Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Rear
- Flight hours
- 738 total · 561 in this make and model · 708 as pilot in command · 11 in the last 90 days · 6 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 100 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 90 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.