Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Fault Line Flyers Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Briggs, Texas 78680
Saturday, May 23, 1998 15:18 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The glider pilot had released the glider from the tow plane prematurely at 1,500 feet MSL due to conflicting traffic. After 'thermalling with another glider for a while, he could not find much lift,' so he headed back to the airport to land. The pilot added that he was too low when he entered the downwind leg for runway 16; however, he estimated that he would be able to reach the approach end of the runway. In a written statement, he stated that he became distracted by a yellow glider that he thought was blocking the landing runway. The pilot reported that while maneuvering to land at the threshold for the 4,500-foot turf runway, he turned the aircraft onto the base leg prematurely; consequently the left wing impacted the ground nearly perpendicular to the runway near the threshold. Subsequently, the glider impacted the ground in a nose low attitude, bounced back in the air and impacted the ground in a tail low attitude, separating the tail section.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's misjudgment of the distance and altitude. Factors were the lack of thermal lift and his diverted attention while on downwind.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/23/1998 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1518 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | BRIGGS |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 78680 |
| Event Date Year | 1998 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | FAULT LINE FLYERS |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | TX23 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 1150 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | 0 |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 5 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 32 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 210 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 15 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 143 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 23 1998 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1416 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 11 2000 11:20AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N427BG |
| NTSB Number | FTW98LA244 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Burkhart Grob |
| Aircraft Model | 103 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 103 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 3739 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1279 |
| Aircraft Category | Glider |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 2 |
| Number of Engines | -- |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 14 1998 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 25 |
| Airframe Hours | 4251 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | RICH SHEAFER |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1804 OAKRIDGE |
| Aircraft Owner City | ROUND ROCK |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 78681 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| Operator Code | |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | TX23 |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1508 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:34AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 16 |
| Runway Length | 4500 |
| Runway Width | 250 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |