LAX92LA343 · Burkhart Grob 103
Soar Truckee Burkhart Grob 103 · Accident: airframe, component or system failure on approach
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX92LA343
- 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 103
- Aircraft type
- Grob 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
- N103FB
- Operator
- Soar Truckee
- 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
- Airframe, component or system failure
- 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
- Manufacturer › Acft/equip, inadequate aircraft manuals
- Manufacturer › Information unavailable
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Truckee, CA, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE FLT WAS RTRNG FM A VFR GLIDER SENIC FLT. THE PLT EXTDD THE SPOILERS TO LOSE ALT WHILE ON BASE LEG FOR RNY 19. WHEN THE GLIDER REACHED THE DESIRED ALT, THE PLT ATMTD TO RETRACT THE SPOILER CTL HANDLE, BUT IT WAS JAMMED IN THE EXTDD PSN. THE PLT & PSGR MADE SVRL ATMTS TO RETRACT THE SPOILER CTL HANDLE, BUT WITHOUT SUCCESS. DRG THIS TIME, THE PLT FLEW TWD THE APCH END OF THE RWY, BUT WITH THE SPOILERS EXTDD, HE WAS UNABLE TO REACH THE RWY. THE GLIDER COLLIDED WITH A DIRT EMBANKMENT SHORT OF RWY 19. A WRECKAGE EXAM DISCLOSED THAT THE FIBERGLASS SPOILER EXTENSION BLOCK WAS EXCESSIVELY WORN & ALLOWED THE SPOILER TO EXTD BYD ITS NORMAL VALUE. THIS CONDITION ALLOWED THE SPOILER TO JAM ON THE FENCE CAP RECESS ON THE UPPER SURFACE OF THE WING. NEITHER THE FLT NOR MAINT MANUAL ADDRESSED INSPN OF THE SPOILER ATTACHMENT OR EXTENSION LIMITING BLOCK. THE GLIDER RCVD AN ANNUAL INSPN 4 DAYS BFR THE ACDNT. THE INSPN WAS PERFORMED IAW THE MANUFACTURERS DIRECTIVES.
Probable cause
THE INADEQUATE AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE AND FLIGHT MANUALS AND UNAVAILABLE INFORMATION PERTAINING TO THE INSPECTION OF THE SPOILER SYSTEM. CONTRIBUTING TO THIS ACCIDENT WAS THE WORN AND JAMMED SPOILER ATTACHMENT LIMITING BLOCK.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX92LA343
- Event ID
- 20001211X15442
- Case number
- LAX92LA343
- 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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1992-08-10.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 9779abfcf83ac82cfe18c379f5c4f694e5f3b2e7faf22feaf2c4e74a13792ec1; retrieved 2026-09-21T14:49:01.180Z.