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| Title: | In-flight breakup, Schempp-Hirth Nimbus-4DM, N807BB, Minden, Nevada, July 13, 1999 |
| Micro summary: | This Schempp-Hirth Nimbus-4DM motorized glider experienced an in-flight breakup while maneuvering. |
| Event Time: | 1999-07-13 at 1310 PDT |
| File Name: | 1999-07-13-US.pdf |
| Publishing Agency: | National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) |
| Publishing Country: | USA |
| Report number: | NTSB/AAB-02/06 |
| Pages: | 42 |
| Site of event: | Minden, Nevada |
| Latitude/Longitude: | N38.9819 W119.6728 |
| Departure: | Minden-Tahoe Airport, Minden, Nevada, USA |
| Destination: | Minden-Tahoe Airport, Minden, Nevada, USA |
| Airplane Type(s): | Schempp-Hirth Nimbus-4DM |
| Flight Phase: | Cruise |
| Registration(s): | N807BB |
| Operator(s): | Private |
| Type of flight: | Revenue |
| Occupants: | 2 |
| Fatalities: | 2 |
| Serious Injuries: | 0 |
| Minor/Non-Injured: | 0 |
| Other Injuries: | 0 |
| Executive Summary: | On July 13, 1999, at 1310 Pacific daylight time, a Schempp-Hirth Nimbus-4DM motorized glider, N807BB, experienced an in-flight breakup while maneuvering near Minden, Nevada. The commercial glider pilot and a passenger were fatally injured, and the glider was destroyed. The glider had departed from Minden-Tahoe airport at 1240 and was operated by the owner/pilot under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91. No flight plan was filed for the local area soaring flight. The glider was certificated in the United States in the experimental category for exhibition and racing, and it was also certificated in Germany in the standard class, utility category. PROBABLE CAUSE The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the pilot’s excessive use of the elevator control during recovery from an inadvertently entered spin and/or spiral dive during which the glider exceeded the maximum permissible speed, which resulted in the overload failure of the wings at loadings beyond the structure’s ultimate design loads. |
| Learning Keywords: | Operations - Uncontrolled Flight into Terrain |
| Operations - Upset in-flight (extreme attitudes, stall, spin) | |
| Consequence - Damage - Airframe or fuselage | |
| Consequence - Hull Loss |
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