Ab Sportine Aviacija GENESIS 2 N240BG

Summary

On 13 June 1999 at about 20:20 local time, a Ab Sportine Aviacija GENESIS 2 registered N240BG was involved in an accident near Minden, Nevada, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

13 June 1999 at 20:20

Classification

Accident

Location

Minden, Nevada, United States

Nearest airport

Minden-Tahoe (MEV)

Coordinates

39.0098, -119.7495

Aircraft

Ab Sportine Aviacija GENESIS 2

Registration

N240BG

Category

Glider

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Minden → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX99LA215

1 person died.

The flight control stabilator becoming disconnected during the initial ground tow. Factors in the accident were the inadequate preflight by the pilot and communications with the pilot not possible.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The glider pilot was practicing for an upcoming glider competition. He usually had his wife help him assemble the glider. This day he had sent her out for radio batteries and when she returned he had already assembled the horizontal stabilator to the vertical tail section. A short while later the pilot indicated he was ready to fly the glider. As the tow plane began to tow the glider, the wife held the wing. As she released the wing, she said she heard a noise and observed the horizontal stabilator lying on the runway as it had fallen off the aircraft. The wife immediately ran over to a man standing nearby who had a radio, and told him to contact her husband on the radio and tell him to release the aircraft from the tow plane. She watched the man transmit the message to the glider pilot, without success. The aircraft left the runway, climbed to approximately 100 feet agl, and nosed over and crashed into the runway. Postaccident investigation of the glider pilot's handheld radio determined it was incorrectly set to the wrong frequency. Additionally, examination of the vertical stabilator revealed that the stabilator was improperly installed prior to the accident flight.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.