Accident Details
On May 15, 2022, at 1458 eastern daylight time, a Schweizer SGS-2-33A glider, registration N17879, was substantially damaged when it collided with trees during a solo instructional flight conducted under Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. The accident occurred near Blairstown, New Jersey. The student pilot was fatally injured.
Flight History
According to the pilot’s flight instructor, he met the pilot at the airport to review his logbook and plan for two instructional flights. He reported the weather as “good with light winds and smooth conditions” based on flights he performed earlier that day. Two dual flights in the traffic pattern for runway 25 were uneventful. The instructor noted that the pilot flew well, exercised good judgement, and operated within safety limits. After the second dual flight, the instructor issued a 90-day solo endorsement. The pilot then completed two solo left traffic pattern flights. The first solo flight was uneventful.
During the second solo traffic pattern flight, the flight instructor observed that the turn from base to final “looked early, and slightly higher than normal.” The glider entered a forward slip and descended closer to a normal glide path for the runway, but was “somewhat close to tall trees on the left.” During recovery from a second forward slip, the glider had a slight left bank angle, causing it to track closer to the trees. The wings then leveled, and the glider impacted trees with its left wing, rotated, and pitched steeply nose-down before impacting terrain.
Impact and Damage
Examination of the accident site revealed that the glider struck a tree 254 ft left of the runway 25 centerline and 390 ft short of the runway threshold. The intended landing area was in the grass to the left of runway 25. The struck tree was approximately 60–70 ft tall, with broken branches about 10–15 ft below its top. The tree was about 20 ft taller than surrounding trees. A debris path of broken branches extended 165 ft parallel to the tree line in a grass field, oriented along a true heading of 234°. No glider components or ground scars were found along the path. The glider came to rest inverted.
The glider was largely intact, with all major components present. Both wings displayed leading-edge impact and crushing damage outboard of the wing struts. Tree bark fragments were present in the damaged area of the left wing. The fuselage was buckled and twisted toward the right about 2 ft aft of the wing’s trailing edge. The upper 10 inches of the vertical stabilizer and rudder were impact damaged. The forward sections of the cockpit and canopy were crushed and fragmented forward of the front seat. The front seat was relatively undamaged, and the 4-point harness was intact and remained attached to its mounting points.
Post-Accident Examination
Flight control continuity was established for all primary controls from the cockpit to the control surfaces. All cables and push/pull tubes remained connected. The elevator, aileron, and rudder could be moved from the cockpit controls with binding. The speed brake control lever was in the retracted position, and the speed brakes were not extended.
Toxicology testing performed by the FAA Forensic Sciences Laboratory detected no ethanol, drugs of abuse, or carboxyhemoglobin. No medications posing a hazard to flight safety were found.
Remnants of a bird’s foot were found at the base of the struck tree. No bird remains were visible on any glider components. Canopy fragments were sent to the Smithsonian Institution’s Feather Identification lab for DNA testing, along with photos of the foot. No viable avian DNA was detected on the canopy fragments. The foot was identified as chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus).