- Date
- August 16, 2000, 14:03 local (18:03 UTC)
- Place
- Zephyrhills, FL
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N7679Schweizer SGS 1-34
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 2, 2001
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 20000816015319A
- Case key
- 50008
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 student pilot's failure to maintain airspeed on final approach resulting in an inadvertent stall/spin and subsequent in-flight collision with terrain.
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 was observed to enter the traffic pattern for landing. On final approach the witness described the approach as low and slow, before the glider started spinning to the right and collided with the terrain.
Factual narrative
On August 16, 2000, at about 1403 eastern daylight time, a Schweizer SGS 1-34, N7679, registered to Tampa Bay Soaring Society Inc., operating as a 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight, crashed on landing in the vicinity of Zephyrhills Municipal Airport (ZPH), Zephyrhills, Florida. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed. The glider sustained substantial damage and the student pilot sustained serious injuries. The flight originated from ZPH, about 33 minutes before the accident.
The pilot remembers departing on the glider flight; and remembers returning to the traffic pattern, but has no further recall of the events leading up to the accident.
The brother of the injured pilot stated he observed the glider established on a low and slow final to runway 36, before the glider started spinning to the right. He contacted UNICOM on a handheld radio and asked them to call 911.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7679
- Reported as
- Schweizer SGS 1-34
- Category
- Glider
- Serial number
- 59
- Airframe hours
- 2,640
- Engine
- unknown
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Tampa Bay Soaring Society Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 7, 2000 · 17 hours before
- Departed
- ZPH
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
- 16
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Unknown, Unknown
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 60 total · 20 in this make and model · 50 as pilot in command · 15 in the last 90 days · 10 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 270° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 91 °F, dew point 75 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- TPA, 35 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.
Other investigations on N7679 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.