Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Gallatin Field Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Belgrade, Montana 59714
Thursday, June 17, 1999 11:45 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
After performing two 360 degree turns on base leg before turning final due to traffic which had not cleared the runway, the glider was cleared to land. Ground control asked him to immediately remove the glider off the north side of the runway upon rolling out. The student was flying the glider at that time. The tow pilot entered the runway in front of the glider and motioned to turn the glider off the runway. The glider flight instructor said that he started to give instructions to the student to put the left wing down to start the turn, but realized they were going too fast to safely make a turn without hitting the tow pilot. The instructor took the controls and tried to make a right turn away from the tow pilot and tow plane, but toward the runway. The wing tip of the glider struck the prop of the tow plane and caused damage to the underside of the glider's wing. The tow pilot noted that he assumed the tower would have told the glider pilot the same instructions he had received. He said he expected the glider pilot to be prepared for his hand signals directing him off of the runway. The tow pilot believed that, not having been briefed by the tower, the glider was landed longer and faster than usual to fit the flight instruction that the student required. The instructor said that while the instructions from the tower were distracting and caused the glider to be low on final, ' I think the communication to the tow pilot (and not the glider) caused the tow pilot to enter the runway and caused the evasive maneuver that contributed to the accident. Despite the confusion a safe landing was underway until that time; I should have rolled out straight ahead and made the tow pilot jump clear and then the collision would have never occurred.'
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot in command's failure to maintain clearance from a parked airplane during his attempt to avoid a person on the runway.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/17/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1145 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | BELGRADE |
| Event State | MONTANA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 59714 |
| 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 | GALLATIN FIELD |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | BZN |
| 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 | 4462 |
| 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) | 6 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 21 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| 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) | 369 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 17 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 | Dec 12 2000 11:40AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N70741 |
| NTSB Number | SEA99LA087 |
| 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 | Let |
| Aircraft Model | L-13 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | L-13 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 27341 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1103 |
| 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 | -- |
| 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 | BIG SKY SOARING |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P. O. BOX 808 |
| Aircraft Owner City | BELGRADE |
| Aircraft Owner State | MT |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 59714 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | SUNBIRD AVIATION, INC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | BZN |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1130 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| 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 | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:30AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 12 |
| Runway Length | 4000 |
| Runway Width | 200 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |