Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Wellington, Nevada 89444
Saturday, July 16, 1988 16:45 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
THE PLT (WITH ONLY 13 HRS FLT TIME IN THE HI PERFORMANCE SAILPLANE) TOOK OFF AT 1330 PDT. PSN RPRTS WITH HER GND CREW WERE NORMAL UNTIL 1630, THEN ANOTHER PLT OFFERED TO RELAY MESSAGES. AFTER CTCG HER GND CREW, THE OTR PLT TRIED CALLING HER BACK AT APRX 1645, BUT GOT NO RESPONSE. A SEARCH WAS INITIATED, THE WRECKAGE WAS FND THE NEXT DAY AT 0955, SCATTEREDOVR A WIDE AREA ON MTN/HILLY TRRN. THERE WAS EVIDENCE OF AN IN-FLT BREAKUP. THE RGT WING HAD FAILED AT THE OUTBOARD END OF THE FLAP; THE OUTBOARD PORTION WAS FND APRX 500' WEST OF THE MAIN WRECKAGE. THE LEFT WING HAD FAILED IN THE SAME AREA& ITS MAIN SPAR HAD FAILED AT THE WING ROOT. FRACTURES WERE TYPICAL OF POSITIVE OVERLOAD WITH NO PREEXISTING FATIGUE. HORIZONTAL STABILIZER WAS FND APRX 1/2 MI SOUTH OF THE MAIN WRECKAGE. THERE WAS EVIDENCE THE PLT HAD BAILED OUT, BUT HADHIT THE GND BEFORE THE CHUTE WAS FULLY DEPLOYED. THE CHUTE WAS LAST PACKED ON 2/4/88. TOWERING CUMULUS CLDS WERE RPRTD 34 MI WEST AT LAKE TAHOE. ANOTHER PLT IN THE VCNTY MADE A PRCNTRY LNDG DUE TO TSTM, RAIN, TURBC, & GUSTY WIND.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/16/1988 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1645 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | WELLINGTON |
| Event State | NEVADA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 89444 |
| Event Date Year | 1988 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| 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 | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 0 |
| Airport Elevation | 0 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Witness |
| Time of the weather observation | 1645 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 107 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | TVL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 6264 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 34 |
| 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 | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 50 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 31 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 7 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 20 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 8950 |
| 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) | 1103 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 17 1988 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1250 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | 37059 |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 13 2000 11:57AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N14XZ |
| NTSB Number | SEA88FA131 |
| 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 | APPLEBAY |
| Aircraft Model | ZUNI 2 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | ZUNI 2 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 14 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1200 |
| 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 | 0 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 7 1988 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 19 |
| Airframe Hours | 65 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | STEPHAEN D. BROWN |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 3146 WARWICK ROAD |
| Aircraft Owner City | FREMONT |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 94536 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | DIANE E. WEIDENHAMMER |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 4169 OAK HILL AVE |
| Operator City | PALO ALTO |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 94306 |
| 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 | 1330 |
| 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 | Unknown |
| 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 | 0 |
| Runway Width | 0 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |