ATL92LA120 · Glaser-Dirks DG 300
Glaser-Dirks DG 300 · Accident: in flight collision with object on approach
From 02J · Cordele, GA to 02J
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL92LA120
- 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
Glaser-Dirks DG 300
- Aircraft type
- Glaser Dirks DG-300
- 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
- N433TT
- Operator
- Dewald, Charles F. · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From 02J · Cordele, GATo 02J
- 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 final
- 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
- Wire, transmission
- 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 › Visual lookout, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
DURING A GLIDER CONTEST, THERMAL LIFT DISSIPATED. THE PILOT DESCENDED ATTEMPTING TO LOCATE ADDITIONAL THERMALS, UNSUCCESSFULLY. A LARGE PEANUT FIELD WAS SELECTED AS A POSSIBLE LANDING SITE. IT WAS OVERFLOWN AT ABOUT 1500 FEET FOR EVALUATION. POWER LINES ALONG THE FIELD WERE NOT OBSERVED. A LONG STRAIGHT IN APPROACH WAS ESTABLISHED. THE PILOT STATED THAT HE FOCUSED HIS ATTENTION ON A LONG STORAGE SHED, AT THE ENTRANCE TO THE FIELD,TO AVOID IT BUT, REMAIN CLOSE. CONSEQUENTLY HE DID NOT SEE POWER LINES ABOUT 20 FEET ABOVE THE GROUND JUST BEYOND THE SHED. THE MAIN LANDING GEAR CAUGHT THREE WIRES. THE GLIDER NOSED DOWN, THEN IMPACTED THE SOFT, PLOWED GROUND IN A NOSE DOWN ATTITUDE.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S INADEQUATE VISUAL LOOKOUT WHEN HE FAILED TO SEE AND AVOID OBSTACLES. FACTORS WERE THE LOSS OF THERMAL LIFT AND THE PILOT'S DIVERTED ATTENTION.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL92LA120
- Event ID
- 20001211X14771
- Case number
- ATL92LA120
- 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: 748aa2f5dbc5c4a50f0ec2a4d233e2c6bdc8b73e1be76dc3ece18354ea0e4e0b; retrieved 2026-09-21T23:15:34.141Z.