Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Pangborn Memorial Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Rock Island, Washington 98850
Tuesady, August 7, 2001 13:30 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The accident flight was intended to be a solo cross-country instructional glider flight over a distance of about 29 nautical miles. The flight instructor stated that he instructed the student to climb to at least 6,000 feet above sea level (4,751 feet above the departure airport and 4,724 feet above the destination airport) prior to leaving the local area. The glider had a maximum lift-to-drag ratio of 23. The instructor reported that when the student failed to find lift, and after waiting until too low to return to the departure airport, he delayed selecting a safe landing site until only one option remained. The student's approach was high and was made with a tail wind. The glider overshot its intended landing area, a 400-foot-long open field, and landed between trees near a cherry orchard approximately 2 miles from the departure airport, sustaining substantial damage in the landing. The flight instructor reported that no mechanical malfunction or failure was involved in the accident. The student pilot's certificate was issued about 1 1/2 months before the accident, and the student pilot's flight instructor reported that the student had 30 hours total pilot time including 8 hours in the accident make and model.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The student pilot's improper inflight planning and decision (delay in establishing an approach to a suitable landing area) and his subsequent failure to attain the proper glidepath for the selected landing area, resulting in an overshoot of the selected landing area and collison with trees during landing. Factors included the pilot's lack of experience, and trees in the vicinity of the landing site.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/7/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1330 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Rock Island |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 98850 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | Pangborn Memorial |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | EAT |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 2 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 100 |
| Airport Elevation | 1249 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Partial - limited by pilot |
| Investigator's weather source | Witness |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| 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) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 250 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 8 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 11771 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 7 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2015 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 3 2002 12:16PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Spokane, WA |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5768S |
| NTSB Number | SEA01LA147 |
| 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 | Schweizer |
| Aircraft Model | SGS 1-26B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 394 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 575 |
| 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 | Jun 19 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 27 |
| Airframe Hours | 1557.9 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Cascade Soaring Society Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1 Pangborn Dr. |
| Aircraft Owner City | E. Wenatchee |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 98802 |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | EAT |
| Departure City | Wenatchee |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1300 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | EPH |
| Destination City | Ephrata |
| Destination State | WA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 18 2002 5:28PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |