Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Skylark Field Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Lake Elsinore, California 92530
Saturday, November 11, 2000 15:15 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
After soaring for about 1 hour, the student pilot headed back to the departure airstrip for landing. Approaching the airstrip, the student misread his altimeter by 800 to 1,000 feet and initiated a circle to lose altitude. Midway through the turn the student realized his error and noted that he was, in fact, low whereupon he headed directly back toward the airstrip. The glider continued to lose lift, and the student did not initiate emergency procedures to make an off-site landing in nearby available fields. While attempting to stretch the glide, the glider stalled and collided with tree branches. Thereafter, it impacted the ground hard about 1/2 mile from the airstrip. The glider came to rest in the front yard of a trailer park. Nearly 2 months prior to the accident flight, the student's flight instructor authorized the student to fly the glider in solo flight.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's misjudged altitude approaching the airstrip and his failure to maintain airspeed resulted in the glider's collision with trees.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 11/11/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1515 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | LAKE ELSINORE |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 92530 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 11 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | SKYLARK FIELD |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | CA89 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 1253 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1455 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 355 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | RIV |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1538 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 15 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 4000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 45 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 54 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 32 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 360 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| 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 | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 11263 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Nov 11 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1620 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2002 7:11AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N3621R |
| NTSB Number | LAX01LA038 |
| 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 | Schweizer |
| Aircraft Model | SGS 1-36 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | SGS 1-36 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 39 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 711 |
| 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 | Nov 3 1999 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | LAKE ELSINORE SOARING CLUB |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 37 SILVER SADDLE LN. |
| Aircraft Owner City | ROLLING HILL ES |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 90274 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | P.O. BOX 317 |
| Operator City | ROLLING HILL ES |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 92595 |
| 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 | CA89 |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1430 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| 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 | Descent |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 4 2001 2:49PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 29R |
| Runway Length | 2800 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |