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ERA21LA276

2021-06-17 · WILLIMANTIC, Connecticut, United States · Minor · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport IJD

Current FAA registration · N2517H

Make / Model
SCHWEIZER SGS 1-26E
Year of manufacture
1976 · 45 years old at event
Seats / Engines
1 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19760329
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A25E8A

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The failure of the student to achieve the proper touchdown point resulting in landing undershoot.

Factual narrative

The student pilot was towed aloft and released at 3,000 ft above ground level (agl) two miles south of the airport. After practicing air-work south of the airport with no thermal activity, the flight encountered 2 episodes of significant sink (-1,000 ft/min). With a wind from the northwest at 8 knots, he proceeded for a straight-in approach to runway 36 (nearest runway). When the glider was on a 1-mile final for the runway, a 3rd episode of severe sink was encountered. Realizing he would be unable to reach the runway, the pilot executed a low-energy touchdown on the shoulder of a road about 800 ft from the runway threshold. Postaccident examination of the glider and the submitted NTSB Pilot/Operator Aircraft Accident/Incident report confirmed substantial damage to the left wing. The pilot recommended performing airwork upwind of the airport. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • — Personnel issues-Action/decision-Info processing/decision-Decision making/judgment-Pilot
  • — Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot
  • — Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Descent/approach/glide path-Not attained/maintained
  • — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-(general)-(general)-Effect on operation

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2021_ERA21LA276.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Search this event elsewhere

External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.

Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (icing). All research papers