ATL89DLT02 · Schweizer SGU-2-22E
Schweizer SGU-2-22E · Accident: airframe, component or system failure en route
From Chilhowee Gliderport (92A) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL89DLT02
- 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
- N9847E
- Operator
- Mike Reisman
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Chilhowee Gliderport (92A), Benton, TNTo 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 · climb to cruise
- 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
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Dual student › Aircraft preflight, inadequate
- Flight control, aileron › Disconnected
- Pilot in command(cfi) › Supervision, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
AS THE STUDENT PILOT WAS ATTEMPTING A DUAL AERIAL TOW FLIGHT AT 100 FEET AGL, HE EXPERIENCED DIFFICULTY IN STAYING BEHIND THE TOW PLANE. THE INSTRUCTOR TOOK OVER THE CONTROLS AND WHILE APPLYING FULL RIGHT AILERON NOTED NO AILERON MOVEMENT. AT 300 FEET AGL THE STUDENT RELEASED THE GLIDER FROM THE TOW PLANE. THE INSTRUCTOR SUBSEQUENTLY STALLED THE AIRCRAFT WHILE ATTEMPTING TO LAND IN AN OPEN FIELD AND SETTLED INTO TREES. EXAMINATION OF THE AIRCRAFT DISCLOSED THAT THE PINS CONNECTING THE AILERONS AND PILOT CONTROLS WERE NOT INSTALLED. THEY WERE NOT LOCATED AT THE ACCIDENT SITE NOR IN THE STAGING AREA. THE INSTRUCTOR STATED THAT HE HAD FLOWN THIS AIRCRAFT 3 TIMES EARLIER THAT DAY.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL89DLT02
- Event ID
- 20001213X26968
- Case number
- ATL89DLT02
- 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: 8ed84cca7b92c0b45a35c672068a6699b11c99792de4c8a25a0c1539ba6b79e3; retrieved 2026-09-23T08:37:53.020Z.