Accident Politechnika Warszawska PW-5 Smyk N155TM,
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ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 65981
 
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Date:Sunday 23 June 2002
Time:14:15 LT
Type:Silhouette image of generic pw5 model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different    
Politechnika Warszawska PW-5 Smyk
Owner/operator:Private
Registration: N155TM
MSN:
Fatalities:Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage: Substantial
Category:Accident
Location:Loch Lomand, CA -   United States of America
Phase: Landing
Nature:Private
Departure airport:Crazy Creek
Destination airport:Crazy Creek
Investigating agency: NTSB
Confidence Rating: Accident investigation report completed and information captured
Narrative:
The pilot failed to maintain obstacle clearance while on a visual approach to an airstrip and impacted trees and terrain short of the runway. According to the pilot, he encountered a "severe sink" while soaring and "struggled for +/- 30 minutes to gain altitude." He elected to land the glider at another airport instead of flying to his departure airport. The pilot could not recall much of the landing except for the wind sheer and turbulence. He did indicate a way to avoid such an accident in the future would be to land "when at 1,000 feet, attempting a thermal recovery from 300 feet is dangerous." The closest weather observation facility, 24 miles from the accident site, reported wind speeds between 7 and 11 knots.


The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:
the pilot's inadequate compensation for wind conditions, and his failure to maintain clearance with trees during final approach. A contributing factor was the windshear and turbulence encountered during the approach.

Sources:

https://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief.aspx?ev_id=20020701X01006

Revision history:

Date/timeContributorUpdates
27-Jun-2009 00:02 DColclasure Added
26-Nov-2011 12:59 Alpine Flight Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative]

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