- Date
- January 25, 2008, 12:00 local (20:00 UTC)
- Place
- Hollister, CA
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N87RSchweizer SGS 2-32
- Defining event
- Taxi-from runway: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 30, 2008
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- FAA FSDO
- FAA report
- 20080125011299A
- Case key
- 67428
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 dual student's failure to maintain aircraft control while taxiing from the active runway and the delayed remedial action by the flight instructor. A contributing factor was the unfavorable high wind condition.
Findings · 5
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The glider flight instructor was giving a lesson to a 12-hour student pilot. The weather conditions were deteriorating rapidly with cloud bases at 3,900 feet and the wind was 110 degrees at 30 knots gusting to 37 knots. The tow departure was on runway 13; the flight instructor said they encountered some light rain during the tow. She said they stayed in the traffic pattern with left hand turns. The flight instructor said the student kept the glider aligned with the runway centerline and the landing was "light." The student turned off the runway on to a high speed taxiway, but the glider began drifting to the left. The left wing impacted a runway sign and light. The left wing's leading edge was indented approximately 10 inches to the spar and the left inboard aileron was wrinkled and bent. The glider club owner said that the flight instructor was delayed in taking control of the glider during taxi.
Factual narrative
On January 25, 2008, approximately 1200 Pacific standard time, a Schweizer SGS 2-32 glider, N87R, was substantially damaged when it impacted a taxi sign and light during taxiing at Hollister Municipal Airport (CVH), Hollister, California. The flight instructor and her student were not injured. A private individual was operating the flight under 14 CFR Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the local, instructional flight that originated approximately 10 minutes before the accident. No flight plan had been filed.
The glider flight instructor was giving a lesson to a 12 hour student pilot. The weather conditions were deteriorating rapidly with cloud bases at 3,900 feet, and the wind was 110 degrees at 30 knots gusting to 37 knots. The tow departure was on runway 13; the flight instructor said they encountered some light rain during the tow. She said they stayed in the traffic pattern with left hand turns and the landing was uneventful. The student turned off the runway on to a high speed taxiway, but the glider began drifting to the left. The left wing impacted a runway sign and light. The left wing's leading edge was indented approximately 10 inches to the spar and the left inboard aileron was wrinkled and bent. The glider owner said that the flight instructor was delayed in taking control of the glider during taxi.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N87R
- Reported as
- Schweizer SGS 2-32
- Category
- Glider
- Serial number
- 41
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Quest Richlife
- Registered owner
- Quest A. Richlife
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Aerobatic; Standard, Utility
- Departed
- CVH · Hollister, CA
- Destination
- CVH
- Airport
- CVH · Hollister Municipal Airport, runway 13, 6,350 × 100 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 · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 45
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Seat
- Rear
- Flight hours
- 1,331 total · 644 in this make and model · 88 in the last 90 days · 23 in the last 30 days
- Role
- Student pilot
- Age
- 32
- Certificate
- Student
- Flight hours
- 12 total · 12 in this make and model · 6 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 110° at 30 knots, gusting 37
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 4,900 ft broken
- Temperature
- 55 °F, dew point 48 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.79 inHg
- Observed at
- SNS, 15 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.
Other investigations on N87R · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.