- Date
- October 11, 2024, 14:10 local (20:10 UTC)
- Place
- Moriarty, NM
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N41FLGlasflugel Standard Libelle
- Defining event
- Landing: Landing area undershoot
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Western Pacific Region
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20241011021319A
- Case key
- 195318
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 an adequate glidepath, which resulted in the glider landing on rough terrain short of the runway.
Findings · 3
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 pilot of the glider reported that, while on the downwind leg of the airport traffic pattern, he partially deployed the flight spoilers and extended his downwind leg as the glider was too high. He misjudged his distance to the runway during this time and the glider lost more altitude than the pilot had anticipated. The pilot flared during final; however, the glider impacted rough terrain short of the runway threshold. The glider sustained substantial damage to the fuselage and empennage. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the glider that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N41FL
- Reported as
- Glasflugel Standard Libelle
- Category
- Glider
- Serial number
- 292
- Built
- 1972
- Airframe hours
- 730.3
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 1, 2023
- Departed
- 0E0 · Moriarty, NM
- Airport
- 0E0 · Moriarty Municipal Airport, runway 26, 7,702 × 75 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Data recorder, Electronic flight bag or handheld device
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
- 69
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3
- Last flight review
- August 25, 2024
- Seat
- Single
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 1,131 total · 67 in this make and model · 1,021 as pilot in command · 4 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 310° at 14 knots, gusting 22
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 79 °F, dew point 18 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.40 inHg
- Turbulence
- Light
- Observed at
- KCQC, 17 nm away
- METAR
- KCQC 111953Z AUTO 31014G22KT 10SM CLR 26/M08 A3040 RMK AO2 SLP200 T02561083
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 8, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 4.4 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.