LAX07CA066 · Burkhart Grob G-103A
Burkhart Grob G-103A · Accident: in flight encounter with weather on approach
From Minden-Tahoe Airport (MEV) to Minden, NV
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX07CA066
- 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
- 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
Burkhart Grob G-103A
- Aircraft type
- Grob G-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
- N794G
- Operator
- Soar Minden
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Minden-Tahoe Airport (MEV), Minden, NVTo Minden, NV
- 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
- 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 encounter with weather
- 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(cfi) › Unsuitable terrain or takeoff/landing/taxi area, encountered
- Weather condition › Low ceiling
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The glider drug a wing and ground looped during an off airport landing short of the airport. The CFI and student released the tow line at 8,500 feet in turbulent lift conditions. About 20 minutes into the flight, the tow pilot radioed from the ground that a snow squall was rapidly moving in from the north. The CFI had the student head toward the airport and they prepared for a straight-in approach to runway 34. The wind speed increased and the ceiling quickly lowered. The CFI took control when he determined that they would have to fly a lot faster to beat the storm. About 3 miles south of the field, he noted that the ceiling was descending rapidly enough that he would have to go below the glide slope in order to maintain cloud clearance. He descended with spoilers and told the student to prepare for an off airport landing in a farmer's field short of the airport. The CFI set up for landing. He had to turn and change his path at the last second when he noticed an irrigation sprinkler in his path. The right wing tip contacted the ground, and the glider ground looped during landing, which resulted in substantial damage to the tail boom. The pilot indicated that he had obtained an abbreviated weather brief via telephone and the internet. The weather at the nearest official reporting station, which was 28 nautical miles north of the accident site/departure airport, was similar for a 6-hour period up to an hour before the glider's departure. The weather reports noted 10 miles visibility; winds from the north about 14 knots; and ceilings above 14,000 feet. In the next 30 minutes, the weather deteriorated to 1-mile visibility in light snow; winds gusting 22 to 30 knots; and a 1,000-foot ceiling. In the next 10 minutes, the visibility dropped to 1/4 mile; 20 minutes later the visibility was 3/4 mile. Over the next hour, the weather improved to 10 miles visibility; winds 14 gusting to 22 knots; and overcast conditions at 6,000 feet.
Probable cause
The flight's encounter with a low ceiling while on approach that necessatiated an off-airport precautionary landing on unsuitable terrain. Obstructions were a factor.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX07CA066
- Event ID
- 20070202X00134
- Case number
- LAX07CA066
- 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: a7b006f89c1688297818e3b23582b447384f3d7085b333e8a4eba3eb9ec206ad; retrieved 2026-09-21T18:38:17.839Z.