Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Richland, Washington 99352
Sunday, April 28, 2002 12:00 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The student pilot reported that he was looking for lift to continue the glider operation when the airspeed "got too slow and the tail dropped and the glider went into a flat spin." The student pilot did not recover from the spin and subsequently collided with the terrain. During the post-accident inspection of the wreckage, no evidence of a pre-impact malfunction of the airframe or flight controls were found. The student pilot reported that this was the first flight in this aircraft since it had been restored. The student pilot's flight records indicated that his last flight instructor signoff for solo operations were about six months prior to the accident, and no flights had been accomplished since the last signoff.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Airspeed was not maintained while maneuvering. An inadvertent stall, remedial action was not attained, and the student pilot's lack of total experience were factors.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/28/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1200 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Richland |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99352 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 461834N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1191825W |
| 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 | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1353 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 88 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PSC |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 407 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 8 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| 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) | 20 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 0 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.14 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| 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) | 13118 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 28 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1652 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 1 2003 7:34AM |
| 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 | NONE |
| NTSB Number | SEA02LA076 |
| 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 | Cook |
| Aircraft Model | RS-15 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 27 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 970 |
| Aircraft Category | Glider |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 1 |
| Number of Engines | -- |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Feb 1 1992 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 0 |
| Airframe Hours | 413 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Terry Little |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Clairmont |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 91711 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Charles E. Bigelow |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Richland |
| Operator State | WA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 993522401 |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | RLD |
| Departure City | Richland |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1130 |
| 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 | Maneuvering |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 6 2003 11:37AM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |