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NYC92LA033

1991-11-15 · ERWINNA, Pennsylvania, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport 9N1

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE PILOT ROTATED THE GLIDER PREMATURELY, RESULTING IN AN INADVERTENT STALL AT TOO LOW AN ALTITUDE TO ALLOW RECOVERY. FACTORS RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE THE PILOT'S TOTAL LACK OF EXPERIENCE IN GLIDERS, NO EXPERIENCE IN THIS TYPE OF GLIDER, AND IMPROPER TRIM SETTING.

Factual narrative

JUST AFTER LIFT OFF THE GLIDER BALLOONED ABOVE THE TOW PLANE. THE PILOT USED ELEVATOR CONTROL TO LOWER THE ALTITUDE WHICH RESULTED IN THE GLIDER MAKING CONTACT WITH THE RUNWAY AND CAUSING DAMAGE TO THE HORIZONTAL STABILIZER. THE GLIDER CLIMBED ABOVE THE TOW PLANE AGAIN, THEN PITCHED NOSE DOWN INTO THE GROUND. ACCORDING TO THE PILOT THIS WAS HIS FIRST FLIGHT IN THIS TYPE OF GLIDER AND HE SAID HE ESTIMATED THE TRIM SETTING BECAUSE HE WAS NOT FAMILIAR WITH THE TRIM SYSTEM ON THIS TYPE OF GLIDER. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1991_NYC92LA033.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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