Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Birchwood Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Chugiak, Alaska 99567
Monday, October 9, 2006 18:33 AKD
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The private pilot reported he was attempting to land a glider in a strong and gusty crosswind. He had departed the same airport about 1.5 hours earlier on a personal, Title 14, CFR Part 91 flight. At the time of his departure, there was an active SIGMET for forecast and reported severe turbulence, as well as strong surface winds reported at adjacent airports. Upon his return, he stated that the surface winds and turbulence had increased significantly, and he estimated a 50 degree crosswind at 15 knots, with gusts to 29 knots. During the landing attempt he continued to encounter turbulence, and reported that the glider landed hard on the nose, resulting in structural damage to the forward fuselage and empennage. In his written report to the NTSB, the pilot noted, in part, that the difficulty in controlling the glider during landing was most likely exacerbated by his less than optimal use of the dive brakes, and that flights into such conditions should only be attempted by very experienced pilots
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain control of the glider while landing in gusty crosswind conditions, which resulted in a hard landing and structural damage to the fuselage. Factors associated with the accident were turbulence, a crosswind and wind gusts, and the pilot's inadequate evaluation of the weather conditions.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/9/2006 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1833 |
| Event Time Zone | -- |
| Event City | Chugiak |
| Event State | ALASKA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99567 |
| Event Date Year | 2006 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 612459N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1493026W |
| Event Location Airport | Birchwood |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | BCV |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| 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 | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 140 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 15 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 29 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 21042 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Pilot |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 30 2006 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 26 2007 11:14AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\lema |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N394BA |
| NTSB Number | ANC07CA005 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | -- |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Letecky Zavody |
| Aircraft Model | L-23 Super Blanik |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 01900Z |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| 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 | -- |
| Number of Engines | 0 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 1 2006 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | -- |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | -- |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Civil Air Patrol |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Maxwell AFB |
| Aircraft Owner State | AL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | -- |
| 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 | -- |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | BCV |
| Departure City | Chugiak |
| Departure State | AK |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | ADT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Chugiak |
| Destination State | AK |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 28 2006 6:19PM |
| User who most recently changed record | LABJ |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 19R |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |