Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Crystal Gliderport Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Llano, California 93544
Monday, August 23, 1999 15:10 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
As the student pilot began his landing flare approximately 10 feet above the runway surface, he observed a dust devil move onto the runway directly in front of him. He applied down elevator control but the glider ascended about 50 feet above the ground into the dust devil. The glider stalled and landed hard on the runway, then ground looped. Ground witnesses observed a 'large and violent dust devil' touching down on the runway in the path of the landing glider just as it was in the landing flare.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's encounter with a sudden and violent dust devil, which caused the student pilot to lose control of the aircraft during the landing flare/touchdown.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/23/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1510 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | LLANO |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 93544 |
| Event Date Year | 1999 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | CRYSTAL GLIDERPORT |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | L01 |
| 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 | 3420 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1453 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 300 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PMD |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 2543 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 16 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Unknown |
| 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) | 37 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 10 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 250 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 21 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 25 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1723 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 23 1999 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1510 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 14 2001 1:53PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N8013K |
| NTSB Number | LAX99LA285 |
| 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 | G 103 TWIN II |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | G 103 TWIN |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 3702 |
| 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 | Jul 5 1999 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 84 |
| Airframe Hours | 884 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | DOUGLAS TURNER |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 2369 MONTERO CIRCLE |
| Aircraft Owner City | WASHINGTON |
| Aircraft Owner State | UT |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 84780 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | GREAT WESTERN SOARING SCHOOL |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 32810 165TH ST. EAST |
| Operator City | LLANO |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 93544 |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | L01 |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1349 |
| 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 | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 14 2001 10:25AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 25 |
| Runway Length | 4500 |
| Runway Width | 250 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |