Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Hood River, Oregon 97031
Monday, July 28, 2003 10:15 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot had just purchased the powered glider the day before the accident and accomplished one successful flight. Shortly after takeoff for the third flight on the second day, witnesses reported that the glider attained an altitude of approximately 300 feet agl when the engine lost power. The glider made a turn when it appeared to stall and then descended into an orchard. Post accident inspection of the engine revealed no fuel was present in the fuel lines to the engine and no evidence of a mechanical failure or malfuntion was found. The wing fuel tanks had been breached during the impact sequence. The previous owner reported that the glider had about 2.1 gallons of fuel, or about 40 minutes of engine run time at the beginning of the first flight. The owner also reported that after the accident, he noted that the same amount of fuel was still present in the spare fuel can used for fueling from the day before the accident. No fuel was added after the first flight on the first day. The installed Cambridge flight recorder indicated the engine run time for the two previous flights to be 28 minutes. The third flight was not recorded.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to refuel prior to the flight, resulting in fuel exhaustion during the initial climb, followed by the pilot's failure to maintain airspeed. An inadvertent stall was a factor.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/28/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1015 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Hood River |
| Event State | OREGON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 97031 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | -- |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | -- |
| Event Location Latitude | 454038N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1213210W |
| 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 | 945 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 250 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | CZK |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 151 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 15 |
| 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) | 24 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 12 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 230 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 9 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| 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) | 15029 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Regional Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 28 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1158 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 2 2004 8:06AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Hillsboro, OR |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N24YB |
| NTSB Number | SEA03LA157 |
| 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 | Schleicher |
| Aircraft Model | ASW-24E |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 24851 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| 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 | -- |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | J. Scott Richmond |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Hood River |
| Aircraft Owner State | OR |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 97031 |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | 4S2 |
| Departure City | Hood River |
| Departure State | OR |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| 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 | Dec 30 2003 4:42PM |
| 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 | -- |