Burkhart Grob G 103 TWIN II N4805R

Summary

On 16 July 2001 at about 23:20 local time, a Burkhart Grob G 103 TWIN II registered N4805R was involved in an accident near Minden, Nevada, United States. 2 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

16 July 2001 at 23:20

Classification

Accident

Location

Minden, Nevada, United States

Nearest airport

Minden Tahoe Airport (MEV)

Coordinates

39.0105, -119.7501

Aircraft

Burkhart Grob G 103 TWIN II

Registration

N4805R

Category

Glider

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Minden → Minden

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX01LA249

Nobody was injured.

The student pilot's early deployment of full spoilers, resulting in an excessive sink rate and subsequent hard landing. A factor was the instructor's lack of time to take remedial action.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The instructor said that on their second circuit in the landing pattern, the student was flying the glider within acceptable limits. He was controlling his airspeed and sink rate properly on long final. The glider was approaching runway 30 when they noticed another glider that was much lower and needed priority for the runway. The instructor directed the student to do a sidestep maneuver and land on runway 30 left, a parallel dirt runway. The student began a left sideslip to line up on the parallel runway. The instructor stated that he was controlling the slip properly, and was controlling his sink rate with small applications of the spoilers. During the landing flare, the student applied full spoiler while still 1 to 1 1/2 feet in the air, at approximately 60 knots. The instructor was unable to overcome the rapid nose down pitching moment and the subsequent increase in sink rate. The left wing was slightly lower than the right due to the previous slip maneuver. When the glider landed hard, the left wing made contact with the ground, resulting in a ground loop to the left. The instructor believed that no damage had been done to the glider, but upon exiting the cockpit, he noticed that the tail boom had cracked just ahead of the empennage structure. The instructor stated that in the future, he will place his hand just behind the spoiler control lever and restrict the aft movement to an acceptable position for the flight conditions.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.