Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
New Milford, Connecticut 06776
Saturday, May 1, 1999 15:03 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
While in flight, at an indicated airspeed of 60 knots, a 'loud bang' was heard and the gear warning alarm began to sound. The pilot looked to the left and observed the left wing displaced 20 degrees up from its normal position. The glider began to descend and control inputs by the pilot were unresponsive. In the decent, as the glider's speed began to increase, the pilot elected to egress from the glider. The glider broke apart in flight and descended to the ground. A piece of the glider's fiberglass skin that contained a residue of an adhesive on the inside surface was removed and examined. The adhesive area would have attached spar pin-lock assembly, which secured the wing spar pins. The surface of this epoxy layer contained impression marks similar to a cross-weave pattern found on the surface of fiberglass. The cross-weave pattern on the surface of the epoxy was consistent with a fracture that traveled between the UD-glass fabric tape and the epoxy layer. This separation was characterized as an adhesive separation. The surface of the epoxy layer also contained exposed voids. No bonding between the epoxy and UD-glass fabric tape was observed in the void areas.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The manufacturer's use of inadequate adhesive material which resulted in the de-bonding and subsequent failure of the wing spar pin-lock assembly.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/1/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1503 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | NEW MILFORD |
| Event State | CONNECTICUT |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 06776 |
| Event Date Year | 1999 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1453 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 225 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | DXR |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 458 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 14 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| 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) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 19 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 2 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 120 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 16 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1481 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 1 1999 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1745 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 13 2001 2:03PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N400FJ |
| NTSB Number | NYC99LA102 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Glaser-Dirks |
| Aircraft Model | DG-400 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | DG-400 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 4-78 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1015 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 18 1998 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 62 |
| Airframe Hours | 1840 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Yes |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | FREDERICK L. JACOBS |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 51 SOUTHWELL RD. |
| Aircraft Owner City | WETHERSFIELD |
| Aircraft Owner State | CT |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 06109 |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | 22B |
| Departure City | BURLINGTON |
| Departure State | CT |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1330 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| 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 | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:35AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |