ATL97LA052 · Burkhart Grob G-103-TWIN II G-103-TWIN
Burkhart Grob G-103-TWIN II G-103-TWIN · Accident: in flight collision with object on approach
From Bermuda High Gliderport (SC79) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL97LA052
- 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
Burkhart Grob G-103-TWIN II G-103-TWIN
- Aircraft type
- Grob G-103
- 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
- N54553
- Operator
- Mark C. Baur · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Bermuda High Gliderport (SC79)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
- Approach
- 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 collision with object
- 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 › Altitude/clearance, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Speed brakes, improper use of
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
After a normal flight, the pilot maneuvered the glider for landing at a gliderport. According to him, the pattern entry was normal, but his turn onto final approach was late, which made the glider low and slow to the 4,000 foot long runway. The pilot stated he 'landed' in 50 foot tall trees, 200 feet short of the runway. Witnesses indicated the glider's spoilers were extended, while on final approach. Damage to the glider also indicated that the spoilers were not retracted at the time of collision with the trees. The pilot did not recall the spoiler's position. He had flown three launches on the previous day with an instructor, but he had not flown during the winter, prior to that. Also, he had only about 3 hours of flight time in this make and model of glider.
Probable cause
the pilot's improper use of the spoilers, while approaching to land, which allowed the glider to get low on final approach and strike trees. The pilot's lack of recent flying experience and lack of experience in the make and model of glider were related factors.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL97LA052
- Event ID
- 20001208X07492
- Case number
- ATL97LA052
- 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: 352757c4c4bbf9638fd11b14182b2598f3ba8bc612e16dd2321ded5201c6dd79; retrieved 2026-09-21T21:29:24.001Z.