NTSB CAROL · Event
Event CEN25LA311
Registry · N65818
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
SCHWEIZER SGS 2-33A
Year of manufacture
1973 · 52 years old at event
Engine
NONE NONE
Seats / Engines
2 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19731010
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A8AD0E
Registrant of record
HELGERSEN WILLIAM A SR
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The student pilot’s failure to maintain airspeed and altitude resulting in a collision with the ground during the base to final turn.
Factual narrative
The solo student pilot reported she was on downwind to land and noted she was a bit lower than usual so she turned base early to compensate. While on the base leg her recollection of events wasn’t clear. She remembered feeling task saturated and that she may not have maintained her altitude and airspeed resulting in the glider impacting the ground during the base to final turn. The glider came to rest upright on a flat grass field and the pilot was able to egress without further incident. The fuselage and right wing were substantially damaged. The pilot reported there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions of failures with the glider that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot further reported that the accident could have been prevented by paying closer attention to the glider’s altitude and airspeed while in the traffic pattern. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12
NTSB Findings
Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).
- — Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2025_CEN25LA311.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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