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ATL95LA069 · Aerotek ZUNI

23 Mar 1995 · Morganton, NC, United States

Aerotek ZUNI · Accident: in flight encounter with weather on approach

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Event

NTSB case
ATL95LA069
Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Accident
InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
Completed
API-reported fatalities
0 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
0
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
General aviation
WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
Visual Meteorological Cond

Aerotek ZUNI

Aircraft type
Aerotek ZUNI
Category
Glider
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
N19PF
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo not recorded
Aircraft age
Not recorded
Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
Part 91: General Aviation
Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
Approach · VFR pattern turn to base
First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
In flight encounter with weather
Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
Tree(s)
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Substantial

Cause areas

  • Pilot in command › Compensation for wind conditions, inadequate
  • Pilot in command › Planned approach, poor
  • Weather condition › Turbulence
  • Weather condition › Windshear

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

THE GLIDER IMPACTED THE TREES TO THE EAST OF THE AIRPORT DURING AN APPROACH TO RUNWAY 21. THE PILOT REPORTED THAT THE GLIDER HIT WINDSHEAR. AS A RESULT OF THE WINDSHEAR, THE GLIDER WAS IN A 60 TO 70 DEGREE BANK TO THE RIGHT AND THE GLIDER HAD LOST AIRSPEED AND ALTITUDE. A SAILPLANE INSTRUCTOR WHO WITNESSED THE ACCIDENT STATED THAT THE AIRSPEED WAS APPROXIMATELY 60 KNOTS BUT SHOULD HAVE BEEN MUCH HIGHER CONSIDERING THE GUSTY WIND CONDITIONS AT THE TIME OF THE ACCIDENT. AN INSPECTION OF THE GLIDER REVEALED NO INDICATIONS OF A MECHANICAL FAILURE. THE PILOT REPORTED MODERATE TURBULENCE.

Probable cause

THE PILOT'S POORLY PLANNED APPROACH WHICH RESULTED IN THE LOSS OF CONTROL OF THE AIRCRAFT BECAUSE OF GUSTY WIND CONDITIONS.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record ATL95LA069
Event ID
20001207X03073
Case number
ATL95LA069
Dataset
historical-pre2008
Source SHA-256
89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
  • Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
  • Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 0567846c75d37a64a64c1d2bf3c69d2b3054012ff22a5ec49d75d0ed0a24fe08; retrieved 2026-09-21T22:21:51.927Z.