- Date
- July 29, 1989, 15:45 local (19:45 UTC)
- Place
- Warren/Sugarbus, VT
- Injuries
- 2 serious
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- GQLBBonds & Bungey HP-14
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report July 29, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Case key
- 36246
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
Failure of the pilot to maintain adequate airspeed while maneuvering in shifting/turbulent air, and his inadequate remedial action to avoid or recover from the inadvertent spin. The shifting/turbulent/gusty wind condition was a related factor.
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 and his passenger had been ridge flying in the glider for several hours before the accident. According to witnesses, the glider entered a spin & turned several times before crashing near the top of a wooded mountain. The witnesses, who were in other gliders, said the wind was shifting from west to northwest at 10 gusting 20 KTS with thermals & turbulence in the area.
Aircraft
- Registration
- GQLB
- Reported as
- Bonds & Bungey HP-14
- Category
- Glider, amateur-built
- Serial number
- CB 002
- Airframe hours
- 299
- Engine
- unknown
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Peter Kurt Bretschneider
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 21, 1989 · 44 hours before
- Departed
- OB7 · Warren, VT
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 51
- Certificates
- Private, Foreign
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 353 total · 54 in this make and model · 275 as pilot in command · 62 in the last 90 days · 44 in the last 30 days · 5 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Variable at 10 knots, gusting 20
- Visibility
- 30 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 72 °F, dew point 54 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- BTV, 26 nm away