Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Minden-Tahoe Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Minden, Nevada 89423
Sunday, June 13, 1999 13:20 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The glider pilot was practicing for an upcoming glider competition. He usually had his wife help him assemble the glider. This day he had sent her out for radio batteries and when she returned he had already assembled the horizontal stabilator to the vertical tail section. A short while later the pilot indicated he was ready to fly the glider. As the tow plane began to tow the glider, the wife held the wing. As she released the wing, she said she heard a noise and observed the horizontal stabilator lying on the runway as it had fallen off the aircraft. The wife immediately ran over to a man standing nearby who had a radio, and told him to contact her husband on the radio and tell him to release the aircraft from the tow plane. She watched the man transmit the message to the glider pilot, without success. The aircraft left the runway, climbed to approximately 100 feet agl, and nosed over and crashed into the runway. Postaccident investigation of the glider pilot's handheld radio determined it was incorrectly set to the wrong frequency. Additionally, examination of the vertical stabilator revealed that the stabilator was improperly installed prior to the accident flight.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The flight control stabilator becoming disconnected during the initial ground tow. Factors in the accident were the inadequate preflight by the pilot and communications with the pilot not possible.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/13/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1320 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | MINDEN |
| Event State | NEVADA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 89423 |
| Event Date Year | 1999 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | MINDEN-TAHOE |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | MEV |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 160 |
| Airport Elevation | 4718 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1256 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 360 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | RNO |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 4412 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 30 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| 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) | 28 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 1 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1444 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 13 1999 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1340 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 16 2001 5:15PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N240BG |
| NTSB Number | LAX99LA215 |
| 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 | AB SPORTINE AVIACIJA |
| Aircraft Model | GENESIS 2 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | GENESIS 2 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 2003 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1157 |
| 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 | -- |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 3 1998 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | CLARENDON PHILLIPS BOWMAN |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P O BOX 120884 |
| Aircraft Owner City | CLERMONT |
| Aircraft Owner State | FL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 34712 |
| 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 | MEV |
| Departure City | MINDEN |
| Departure State | NV |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1315 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| 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 | 34 |
| Runway Length | 7395 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |