- Date
- September 8, 2001, 16:20 local (20:20 UTC)
- Place
- Cumberland, MD
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N2540HSchweizer SGS 1-35
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 1, 2003
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- FAA FSDO-07
- FAA report
- 20010908039349A
- Case key
- 53458
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 misjudged distance and altitude. A factor was the pilot's lack of familiarity with the glider.
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
Prior to the accident flight, the pilot had not flown the same make and model as the accident glider. After soaring for several minutes, the pilot entered a downwind leg for runway 29 at 500 feet agl. On base leg, he extended the flaps to 30 degrees. The glider initially "ballooned," and the pilot maintained a 55-knot approach speed. The pilot then realized he was "too fast" and "too high." He then extended the flaps to 80 degrees, and performed a forward slip. The pilot's attention was diverted to another glider landing ahead of him, and the accident glider's spoiler/flap combination was not as effective as other models he had flown. The pilot touched down to the right of the glider ahead of him, on the grass adjacent to the runway, and more than 1,800 feet beyond the approach end of the 2,442-foot long, asphalt, runway. The glider then bounced several times, and traveled off the end of the runway into a fence. The reported wind at the airport, about 25 minutes prior to the accident, was from 140 degrees at 4 knots.
Factual narrative
On September 8, 2001, about 1620 eastern daylight time, a Schweizer SGS 1-35 glider, N2540H, was substantially damaged while landing at Greater Cumberland Regional Airport (CBE), Cumberland, Maryland. The certificated private pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the local personal flight conducted under 14 CFR Part 91. The flight had departed CBE about 1600.
Prior to the accident flight, the pilot had not flown the same make and model as the accident glider. He had approximately 92 hours of flight experience in gliders. The pilot received a cockpit briefing from an instructor, and was then towed to 3,000 feet above ground level (agl). After soaring for several minutes, the pilot entered a downwind leg for runway 29 at 500 feet agl. On base leg, he extended the flaps to 30 degrees. The glider initially "ballooned," and the pilot maintained a 55-knot approach speed. The pilot then realized he was "too fast" and "too high." He then extended the flaps to 80 degrees, and performed a forward slip.
The pilot added that his attention was diverted to another glider landing ahead of him, and the accident glider's spoiler/flap combination was not as effective as other models he had flown. The pilot touched down to the right of the glider ahead of him, on the grass adjacent to the runway, and more than 1,800 feet beyond the approach end of the 2,442-foot long, asphalt runway. The glider then bounced several times, and traveled off the end of the runway into a fence. The glider sustained damage to the wing spars and fuselage.
Examination of the wreckage by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector did not reveal any pre-impact mechanical malfunctions, nor did the pilot report any.
The reported wind at CBE, at 1555, was from 140 degrees at 4 knots.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2540H
- Reported as
- Schweizer SGS 1-35
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 52
- Airframe hours
- 1,455.7
- Engine
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Cumberland Soaring Club
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility
- Last inspection
- Annual · October 6, 2000 · 21.7 hours before
- Departed
- CBE · Cumberland, MD
- Airport
- CBE · Greater Cumberland Regional, runway 29, 2,442 × 150 ft, asphalt
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
- 62
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Last flight review
- July 19, 2000
- Seat
- Single
- Flight hours
- 292 total · 0 in this make and model · 12 in the last 90 days · 4 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 140° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 88 °F, dew point 68 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.10 inHg
- Observed at
- CBE
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.