NTSB CHI91LA231 — 1991-07-26 · GREGORY, Michigan, United States

N781BA has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (BOEING COMPANY THE 767-2C), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

N781BA LET L-13 None

Probable cause & findings

A COLLISION WITH WIRES AFTER THE GLIDER OVERSHOT THE LANDING AREA DUE TO INADVERTENT LOWERING OF THE FLAPS AND NO USE OF SPOILERS.

Factual narrative

THE STUDENT GLIDER PILOT SAID THAT HE INADVERTENTLY DEPLOYED THE FLAPS INSTEAD OF THE SPOILERS WHILE MAKING A LANDING APPROACH. THE GLIDE PATH WAS SHALLOWED AND THE PILOT WAS UNABLE TO LAND ON THE GRASS STRIP. THE GLIDER OVERSHOT THE RUNWAY AND COLLIDED WITH POWER LINES, THEN THE ROUGH TERRAIN. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1991_CHI91LA231.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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