DEN99LA102 · Schweizer SGU-2-22E
Schweizer SGU-2-22E · Accident: in flight collision with object en route
From Industrial Airpark (HBB) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- DEN99LA102
- 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
Schweizer SGU-2-22E
- Aircraft type
- Schweizer SGU-2
- 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
- N5823V
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Industrial Airpark (HBB)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
- En route · descent
- 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
- 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 › Incapacitation(loss of consciousness)
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot said his tow aloft had been 'fairly rough,' and he released at 2,000 feet, in turbulence, and ascended in a thermal to 5,000 feet. He was 'frustrated' by the turbulence, and was 'having trouble controlling the plane,' so he decided to land. He began to get 'frustrated and nervous' and started 'breathing really hard because [he] was scared.' He began to 'feel strange,' and his face and hands 'felt numb. . .like they had fallen asleep.' He began to see 'a lot of little dots,' and he 'passed out.' He regained consciousness just before striking a stop sign. He flew under some powerlines, then landed in a field, and struck a pole embedded in the ground. A physician said the pilot was dehydrated and had hyperventilated, causing the brief lapse of consciousness.
Probable cause
Pilot incapacitation (loss of consciousness) due to dehydration and hyperventilation. Factors were the turbulence and excessive workload (task overload) that induced anxiety/apprehension, and striking the sign and the pole.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DEN99LA102
- Event ID
- 20001212X18980
- Case number
- DEN99LA102
- 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: bc04dbe22f36cea69267d0e91db54262ab7fc8f65e036bd280518bff3b302e08; retrieved 2026-09-22T14:55:15.303Z.