Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Wurtsboro County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Bloomingburg, New York 12721
Monday, June 20, 2005 16:24 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot was participating in a competition between regional glider pilots. After approximately 2.5 hours of gliding, while heading towards Middletown, New York, the pilot stated that thermal lift began to decrease, so he decided to divert to a closer airport. About 4.1 nautical miles from the airport, his glide computer indicated an estimated arrival altitude of 350 feet agl. Over the next mile, lift continued to be lost and the glider descended about 300 feet, which forced the pilot to find an off airport location to land. The pilot set up a right hand traffic pattern to a hay field and when he made a right turn from the base leg of the traffic pattern to the final leg, the glider's "airspeed was low" and it subsequently "stalled and nosed down."
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain airspeed, which resulted in an inadvertent stall, and subsequent impact with terrain.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/20/2005 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1624 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Bloomingburg |
| Event State | NEW YORK |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 12721 |
| Event Date Year | 2005 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 413135N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0742844W |
| Event Location Airport | Wurtsboro County Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | N82 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 2.5 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 560 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 135 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MGJ |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 365 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 10 |
| 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) | 24 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 12 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.15 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 18472 |
| NTSB Notification Source | ALB FSDO |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 22 2005 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 27 2005 6:51AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Albany, NY |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N341PW |
| NTSB Number | IAD05CA081 |
| 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 | PZL Swidnik |
| Aircraft Model | PW-5 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1712023 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 660 |
| Aircraft Category | Glider |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| 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 | May 1 2005 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 80 |
| Airframe Hours | 360 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | William E. Thar |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 51 Tulip St. |
| Aircraft Owner City | Summit |
| Aircraft Owner State | NJ |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 07901 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | 1N7 |
| Departure City | Blairstown |
| Departure State | NJ |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1347 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | 1N7 |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Maneuvering |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 20 2005 2:45PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MUZD |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 9 |
| Runway Length | 1100 |
| Runway Width | 110 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |