Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Richland Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Richland, Washington 99352
Sunday, June 24, 2012 14:25 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
In a written statement, the pilot reported that the accident flight was his second flight of the day. After conducting a series of practice maneuvers, he was returning to the airport. The pilot entered a right traffic pattern and configured the glider for landing. With the landing gear extended and the flaps set at 10 degrees, he opened and tested the spoilers. While on the base leg of the traffic pattern, he noticed that the glider was low, and, as he maneuvered onto final approach, he closed the spoilers (forward activation of the lever). The glider’s sink rate was excessive and he observed that the spoilers visually appeared to be deployed although the control lever was in the full-forward (closed) position. He manipulated the lever back and forth, which had no effect on the spoiler position. The glider impacted railroad tracks about 1,000 feet from the approach end of the runway and sustained substantial damage to the fuselage and wings in the accident sequence.
A postaccident examination of the glider revealed that the right wing spoiler’s lower plate appeared to have been rubbing the aft spoiler bay wall until it scraped off the resin. It appeared to have scraped enough material off that it caught on a fabric seam (once sealed in the resin) and would not retract. In other words, the spoiler’s lower plate would not push past the catch due to the exposed fabric edge. The location of the scrape marks and the fabric seam put the spoilers at half extension, which is consistent with the lack of performance the pilot reported. The left wing spoiler’s lower plate bushings were tight, with no play.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The failure of the spoilers to retract because the right wing spoiler’s lower plate became jammed, which resulted in the glider not having enough lift to make it to the runway surface.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/24/2012 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1425 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Richland |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99352 |
| Event Date Year | 2012 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 461820N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1191815W |
| Event Location Airport | Richland Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | RLD |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 390 |
| 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 | 8000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| 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) | 26 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 210 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| 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 | 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) | 30173 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA OPS Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 2 2012 12:20PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N505JL |
| NTSB Number | WPR12CA288 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Unknown |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | DG-FLUGZEUGBAU GMBH |
| Aircraft Model | DG-500MB |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 5E-187B3 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Nov 22 2011 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 878 |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | SLS PARTNERSHIP LTD |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | RICHLAND |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 99352-1967 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | SLS PARTNERSHIP LTD |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | RICHLAND |
| Operator State | WA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 99352-1967 |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | -- |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | RLD |
| Departure City | Richland |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1415 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | RLD |
| Destination City | Richland |
| Destination State | WA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 2 2012 12:20PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 26 |
| Runway Length | 4000 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |