Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Minden Tahoe Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Minden, Nevada 89243
Monday, July 16, 2001 16:20 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The instructor said that on their second circuit in the landing pattern, the student was flying the glider within acceptable limits. He was controlling his airspeed and sink rate properly on long final. The glider was approaching runway 30 when they noticed another glider that was much lower and needed priority for the runway. The instructor directed the student to do a sidestep maneuver and land on runway 30 left, a parallel dirt runway. The student began a left sideslip to line up on the parallel runway. The instructor stated that he was controlling the slip properly, and was controlling his sink rate with small applications of the spoilers. During the landing flare, the student applied full spoiler while still 1 to 1 1/2 feet in the air, at approximately 60 knots. The instructor was unable to overcome the rapid nose down pitching moment and the subsequent increase in sink rate. The left wing was slightly lower than the right due to the previous slip maneuver. When the glider landed hard, the left wing made contact with the ground, resulting in a ground loop to the left. The instructor believed that no damage had been done to the glider, but upon exiting the cockpit, he noticed that the tail boom had cracked just ahead of the empennage structure. The instructor stated that in the future, he will place his hand just behind the spoiler control lever and restrict the aft movement to an acceptable position for the flight conditions.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The student pilot's early deployment of full spoilers, resulting in an excessive sink rate and subsequent hard landing. A factor was the instructor's lack of time to take remedial action.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/16/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1620 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Minden |
| Event State | NEVADA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 89243 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | Minden Tahoe Airport |
| 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 | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 0 |
| Airport Elevation | 4717 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2256 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 160 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KRNO |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 4412 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 60 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 22000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 7000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 26 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 3 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 270 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 16 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 20 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.86 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 7187 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 11588 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 17 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1516 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 14 2002 9:31AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-FSDO Reno, Nevada |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4805R |
| NTSB Number | LAX01LA249 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Burkhart Grob |
| Aircraft Model | G 103 Twin II |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 3854-K-100 |
| 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 | 0 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 18 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 69.3 |
| Airframe Hours | 7246.4 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Soar Minden, Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. Box 1746 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Minden |
| Aircraft Owner State | NV |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 89423 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| 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? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| 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 | MEV |
| Departure City | Minden |
| Departure State | NV |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1616 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | MEV |
| Destination City | Minden |
| Destination State | NV |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing - flare/touchdown |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 16 2002 2:57PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 30 |
| Runway Length | 2260 |
| Runway Width | 20 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |