Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Truckee Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Truckee, California 96161
Sunday, July 19, 2009 15:10 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The student glider pilot had flown in the morning, and returned for a flight to gain experience in afternoon wind conditions. This was his eighth solo flight, and his launch limitations were surface winds less than 10 miles per hour (mph) and crosswinds no greater than 60 degrees to the runway. Takeoff conditions met those parameters, and he departed. He returned to land and set up a pattern approach to runway 19, maintaining about 60 mph at 700-800 feet above ground level (agl). The pilot felt that his altitude was high on the downwind leg so he performed a slip maneuver to lose altitude to 500-600 feet. When turning to the base leg, the glider suddenly lost altitude to about 300 feet agl, and the pilot initiated an early turn to final. The student's certified flight instructor (CFI) reported that, when the student turned from downwind to base, the glider was lower than expected, and he observed the spoilers open. As the CFI was about to radio the student, the spoilers closed. The CFI stated that the glider was low, slow, and nose high as it approached the runway threshold. It appeared to stall, and dropped onto the runway from an altitude of 5-6 feet. It hit hard, bounced, and dragged both wing tips. After the glider came to a rest, the CFI reported that the spoiler's were not out. A witness stated that the winds had been from the south-southwest at 10 knots most of the day with occasional gusts greater than 10 knots. Twenty minutes prior to the accident, the wind was reported from 270 degrees at 16 knots.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The student pilot's failure to maintain adequate airspeed to avoid a stall during final approach to land. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s lack of experience.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/19/2009 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1510 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Truckee |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 96161 |
| Event Date Year | 2009 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 391907N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1200813W |
| Event Location Airport | Truckee |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | TRK |
| 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 | 5900 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1450 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | TRK |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 5900 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 9000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 30 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 5 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 270 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 16 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.28 |
| 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) | 26032 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Reno FSDO |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 20 2009 1:08PM |
| User who most recently changed record | lema |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N65825 |
| NTSB Number | WPR09CA359 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | SCHWEIZER |
| Aircraft Model | SGS-2-33A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 305 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1040 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 0 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 15 2009 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 5230 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | SOAR TRUCKEE INC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | TRUCKEE AIRPORT PO BOX 2657 |
| Aircraft Owner City | TRUCKEE |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 95734 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | SOAR TRUCKEE INC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | TRUCKEE AIRPORT PO BOX 2657 |
| Operator City | TRUCKEE |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 95734 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | TRK |
| Departure City | Truckee |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1440 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | TRK |
| Destination City | Truckee |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 2 2009 4:17PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 19 |
| Runway Length | 4650 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |