- Date
- July 12, 1997, 16:35 local (20:35 UTC)
- Place
- Bethel, PA
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N111XXSlingsby T65A
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 28, 2000
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19970712018109A
- Case key
- 39402
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 improper flare. A factor in the accident was the pilot's fatigue.
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 reported that after about 4 hours of flight, he elected to land his glider at Bethel due to a lack of updrafts. He put the gear down and 'and began making preparations for landing. Upon reaching pattern altitude...I found myself in a nose down attitude, in what may have been a spin.' He recovered from the maneuver, but lost significant altitude in the process. He deployed the spoilers to land, and heard a warning alarm. Then the glider impacted the ground hard enough for the canopy to separate. After sitting for several minutes, the pilot exited the glider. The pilot later wrote that he felt 'heat stress and physical fatigue...from working thermals as conditions weakened. Earlier termination of flight would have been prudent.'
Factual narrative
On July 12, 1997, about 1635 Eastern Daylight Time, a Vickers-Slingsby T65A glider, N111XX, was substantially damaged during a hard landing at Grimes Airfield (8N1), Bethel, Pennsylvania. The certificated flight instructor received minor injuries. No flight plan was filed for the flight that departed Philadelphia Glider Council Airport (0PA0), Perkasie, Pennsylvania. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the personal flight conducted under 14 CFR Part 91.
The pilot reported that after about 4 hours of flight, he elected to land at Bethel due to a lack of updrafts. He put the gear down and "and began making preparations for landing. Upon reaching pattern altitude...I found myself in a nose down attitude, in what may have been a spin." He recovered from the maneuver, but lost significant altitude in the process. The pilot deployed the spoilers to land, and heard a warning alarm. Then the glider impacted the ground hard enough for the canopy to separate. After sitting for several minutes, the pilot exited the glider.
In a statement, the pilot wrote that he felt "heat stress and physical fatigue...from working thermals as conditions weakened. Earlier termination of flight would have been prudent."
Aircraft
- Registration
- N111XX
- Reported as
- Slingsby T65A
- Category
- Glider
- Serial number
- 1926
- Airframe hours
- 499
- Engine
- unknown
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Louis J Fitzpatrick
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 17, 1997 · 55 hours before
- Departed
- 0PA0 · Perkasie, PA
- Destination
- 0PA0 · PA
- Airport
- 8N1 · Grimes Airport, runway 29, 2,825 × 180 ft, grass/turf
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
- 42
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Medical
- Unknown, Unknown
- Seat
- Center
- Flight hours
- 248 total · 43 in this make and model · 213 as pilot in command · 47 in the last 90 days · 22 in the last 30 days · 5 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 320° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 86 °F, dew point 55 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- RDG, 17 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.