- Date
- March 10, 2003, 14:30 local (19:30 UTC)
- Place
- Clermont, FL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N828JNSchempp-Hirth DISCUS-2B
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 30, 2003
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Case key
- 56616
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
An in-flight encounter with wind gusts while making an approach to land in a field resulting in the aircraft landing early and colliding with a berm.
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 stated he was downwind of the airport, and realized he could not make it back so he elected to make an off-field landing. After turning onto final approach he said "the glider was hit by a gust of wind and forced into the ground." The glider hit a mound of dirt on the edge of ground water causing the glider to ground-loop.
Factual narrative
On March 10, 2003, about 1430 eastern standard time, a Schempp-Hirth Discus-2B glider, N828JN, registered and operated by an individual, crashed while on approach to landing at the Seminole Lakes gliderport, Clermont, Florida. No flight plan was filed for the 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of accident. The glider was substantially damaged. The glider pilot reported no injuries. The flight had departed from the same gliderport at approximately 1245.
The pilot stated he departed Seminole Lake gliderport with the intention to complete a contest and return to the gliderport. The contest was cancelled due to impending bad weather consisting of gusting winds, wind shear, and possible thunderstorms. He was downwind of the airport, and realized he could not make it back so he elected to make an off-field landing. After turning onto final approach he said "the glider was hit by a gust of wind and forced into the ground." The glider hit a mound of dirt on the edge of ground water causing the glider to ground-loop.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N828JN
- Reported as
- Schempp-Hirth DISCUS-2B
- Category
- Glider
- Serial number
- 120
- Engine
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Martin Nasadowski
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Departed
- 6LFO · Clermont, FL
- Destination
- 6LFO · Clermont, FL
- Airport
- 6FL0 · Seminole Lake, runway 36
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
- 60
- Flight hours
- 685 total · 135 in this make and model · 1 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day