ATL87LA199
1987-07-05 · MT. AIRY, North Carolina, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
Airport MWK
Current FAA registration · N930BG
- Make / Model
- BURKHART GROB G-103A TWIN II ACRO
- Engine
- AMA/EXPR UNKNOWN ENG
- Seats / Engines
- 2 seats · 1 engine
- Last airworthiness date
- 19860709
- ADS-B equipped
- Yes — Mode-S ACE5C9
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Factual narrative
THE INSTRUCTOR STATED THIS WAS THE SECOND FLIGHT OF THE DAY WITH THE STUDENT. THEY HAD RELEASED FROM AN AIR TOW AT 1,500 FEET AGL. THE INSTRUCTOR WAS DEMONSTRATING GLIDE SLOPE CONTROL FOR BEST FINAL GLIDE. WHEN THE SAILPLANE WAS ABOUT 1,000 FEET AGL AND ONE MILE NW OF THE AIRPORT HE TURNED TOWARD THE RUNWAY AND NOTED A SINK RATE OF ABOUT 8 KNOTS. HE INCREASED SPEED AND THE SINK RATE WENT TO 10 KNOTS. THESE SINK RATES TRANSLATE TO ABOUT 810 AND 1013 FEET PER MINUTE, RESPECTIVELY. THIS WOULD HAVE PERMITTED THE SAILPLANE TO COVER A MAXIMUM DISTANCE OF 1 1/2 MILES. TWO SETS OF POWERLINESAND A CHAIN LINK FENCE WERE BETWEEN THE SAILPLANE AND THE RUNWAY. THE AIRCRAFT COLLIDED WITH THE FENCE. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1987_ATL87LA199.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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