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NYC06FA205 · Scheibe SF-28A

17 Aug 2006 · Canandaigua, NY, United States

Scheibe SF-28A · Accident: loss of control in flight while maneuvering

From Canandaigua Airport (D38) to Canandaigua Airport (D38)

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Event

NTSB case
NYC06FA205
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
Unknown
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

Scheibe SF-28A

Aircraft type
Scheibe SF-28
Category
Airplane
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
N14KG
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Canandaigua Airport (D38), Canandaigua, NYTo Canandaigua Airport (D38)
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
Maneuvering
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
Loss of control in flight
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
Stall; Tree(s)
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 › Airspeed, not maintained

Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector was conducting a reexamination flight of a private pilot, who was involved in a prior landing accident with his motorglider. The FAA inspector reported that he had a couple of hours of motorglider experience, no experience in the accident motorglider make and model, no logbook endorsement for a motorglider, and no experience conducting a practical test or reexamination flight in a motorglider. During the reexamination flight, the FAA inspector initiated an unplanned simulated engine failure during takeoff, about 400 feet agl. The private pilot flew the L/D max speed as he initiated a 30-degree right bank for a 180-degree turn back to the opposite runway. The FAA inspector advised the private pilot to increase the bank to 45-degrees to reach the runway. The private pilot increased the bank, but held a nose-high attitude, and the airspeed began to decrease. The FAA inspector instructed corrective action and repeatedly advised that he was taking control of the motorglider. The private pilot did increase the engine power; however, he froze on the controls, and the motorglider stalled and impacted trees. According to a certified flight instructor (CFI) in motorgliders, the simulated engine failure and turn back to the opposite runway can be completed at 200 feet agl, but the nose must be lowered, as the turn is initiated. During the day prior to the accident, the private pilot successfully performed the maneuver with another CFI at 300 feet agl, and 30 degrees of bank.

Probable cause

The private pilot's failure to maintain adequate airspeed, which resulted in an inadvertent stall and impact with trees. Factors were the FAA inspector's delayed remedial action, and his lack of experience in the make and model motorglider.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record NYC06FA205
Event ID
20060829X01251
Case number
NYC06FA205
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, coordinates. 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: 4cad4fc603768fda4d2a704b2c59b708b5953702739f88b50be84887d3043a7b; retrieved 2026-09-20T17:05:25.145Z.