CHI96FA264 · Hoffman, Wolf, Flugzeugbau H-36
Hoffman, Wolf, Flugzeugbau H-36 · Accident: airframe, component or system failure during initial climb
From Waukegan National Airport (UGN) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI96FA264
- 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
- 1 · 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
Hoffman, Wolf, Flugzeugbau H-36
- Aircraft type
- Hoffman Wolf H-36
- 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
- N86PS
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Waukegan National Airport (UGN)To 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
- Initial climb
- 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
- Airframe, component or system failure
- 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
- Stall
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Airspeed, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Stall, inadvertent
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
Shortly after the pilot of a motor-glider took off, he informed the tower that his engine cowl had come loose and he wanted to return to the airport for landing. The tower told the pilot he could land on any runway, and the pilot indicated he would land on runway 05. Subsequently, the aircraft impacted the airport infield near the intersection of runway 32 and 05. Witnesses reported the left engine cowling was flapping and making noise. The pilot flew a tight downwind for runway 32 at about 150 feet AGL, then he turned back to the west after crossing the intersection. When he came out of the turn, the altitude was about 100 feet and the wings were rocking. The motor-glider made a sharp left turn, entered a steep descent, and crashed with the left wing hitting first. Examination of the aircraft revealed flight control and engine continuity. The cylinders had compression and spark. Fuel was present. The prop hub indicated rotational scoring. The left engine cowling exhibited about a 14 inch tearing from the rear of the cowling to the front.
Probable cause
failure of the pilot to maintain adequate airspeed, while maneuvering to land, which resulted in an inadvertent stalled and collision with the terrain. A factor relating to the accident was: the loose engine cowling.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI96FA264
- Event ID
- 20001208X06164
- Case number
- CHI96FA264
- 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: d83f3acc492c61ea7a3b64d6ee0616ca7fe07aa3fa027ac746d8dd0776b71e53; retrieved 2026-09-20T23:14:57.743Z.