- Date
- October 3, 1993, 16:30 local (20:30 UTC)
- Place
- Blairstown, NJ
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N818AWSwift S-1
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 13, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19931003051309A
- Case key
- 38697
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's failure to maintain adequate airspeed, which resulted in an inadvertent stall. A factor is wind gust and the pilot's inexperience in type aircraft.
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
This was the pilot's first flight in the experimental glider. He was flying about 300 feet above the east side of a ridge line that runs in a general direction of northeast to southwest. A gust of wind was encountered, the right wing dropped, and the glider entered a spin and collided with trees. The pilot had 1000 hours of glider experience. Winds reported in the area were from 300 degrees at 15, gusting to 25 miles per hour.
Factual narrative
On Sunday, October 3, 1993, about 1630 eastern daylight time, a Swift S-1, N818AW, a glider, owned and piloted by Walter Parrasch, was substantially damaged when it collided with trees while maneuvering 5 miles north of the Blairstown Airport, Blairstown, New Jersey. The pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. A flight plan had not been filed for the flight operating under 14 CFR 91.
This was the pilots first flight in the Polish built experimental glider. The flight was along the east side of a ridge line. In the NTSB Form 6120.1/2 the pilot stated:
"...[I] was flying over the ridge at approximately 300 feet above the ridge. The wind was a quartering downwind. I...encountered a wind gust which dropped my right wing and...my airspeed dropped ...The glider started to spin and there was no control of the glider at this point. Seconds later it went straight down to the trees..."
The winds on the day of the accident were reported to be from 300 degrees at 15, gusting to 25 miles per hour. The ridge line runs in an approximate direction of 060/240 degrees.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N818AW
- Reported as
- Swift S-1
- Category
- Glider
- Serial number
- 111
- Airframe hours
- 13
- Engine
- unknown
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Walter R. Parrasch
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · September 1, 1993 · 13 hours before
- Departed
- 1N7
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 69
- Certificates
- Private, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Center
- Flight hours
- 2,000 total · 37 in this make and model · 2,000 as pilot in command · 37 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 300° at 15 knots, gusting 25
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 64 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- ABE, 26 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.