IAD00FA023 · Aerotechnik L-13 SEH VIVAT L-13 SEH V
Aerotechnik L-13 SEH VIVAT L-13 SEH V · Accident: in flight collision with object on approach
From Plymouth Municipal Airport (PYM) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- IAD00FA023
- 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
Aerotechnik L-13 SEH VIVAT L-13 SEH V
- Aircraft type
- Aerotechnik L-13
- 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
- N64RG
- Operator
- Henry F. Krejci · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Plymouth Municipal Airport (PYM), MATo 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 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
- 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
- Destroyed
Cause areas
No findings designated as a cause are recorded in the NTSB data yet.
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Plymouth, MA, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
Prior to departure, the flight instructor told the pilot who was receiving his biennial flight review that it was windy and 'they should fly conservatively.' The flight instructor and pilot departed, and soared the motor glider 'in strong lift conditions' in the vicinity of the airport in the power-off configuration. Upon returning to the airport, the flight instructor decided to land in the power off configuration. The pilot delayed the turn to base. Upon turning base, the pilot was uncomfortable with the approach and released control of the motor glider to the flight instructor. The flight instructor then turned the motor glider directly toward the airport and 'very heavy sinking air' was encountered. The flight instructor prepared to land short of the asphalt runway on the grass, but was unable to maintain enough lift to clear the trees bordering the airport. The motor glider descended through the trees, sheared off a large section of the right wing, and came to rest on the right side partially inverted. The speed brake handle was found in the fully extended position. The right speed brake was extended, and the left speed brake was found retracted. The landing runway was 24, and the winds were from 220 degrees at 16 gusting to 23 knots. Examination of the motor glider revealed no mechanical deficiencies.
Probable cause
the flight instructor's inadequate compensation for the wind conditions. A factor was the flight instructor's improper use of speed brakes and the strong gusty winds with downdrafts.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record IAD00FA023
- Event ID
- 20001212X20495
- Case number
- IAD00FA023
- 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: 003e1c96a5597c9ea16501bb0fb1f68cda17f650c1ab02d05cb354b71adc571f; retrieved 2026-09-20T21:26:28.651Z.