NYC08CA267 · Schweizer SGS 2-33A
Schweizer SGS 2-33A · Accident: collision with terrain/object (non-CFIT) during landing
From Garner Airport (3VA8) to Garner Airport (3VA8)
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC08CA267
- 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
Schweizer SGS 2-33A
- Aircraft type
- Schweizer SGS-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
- N33964
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Garner Airport (3VA8), Windsor, VATo Garner Airport (3VA8), Windsor, VA
- 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
- Landing
- Defining eventThe 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
- Collision with terrain/object (non-CFIT)
- 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
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The student pilot of the Schweizer SGS 2-33A glider departed from the airport under tow, and released from the towrope at an altitude of 3,000 feet. He then maneuvered the glider to the right and flew around the airport "looking for lift." Over the next 30 minutes, the glider's altitude varied between 1,700 feet and 2,800 feet. When the glider started to lose lift, the pilot decided to return to the airport. The glider continued to lose lift and the student pilot entered the traffic pattern on the crosswind leg. As the student pilot turned onto final, he maneuvered the glider left of the runway centerline to avoid activity on the right side of the runway. While maneuvering, he "overreacted" and turned too far to the left and ended up over a cornfield. He attempted to turn back to the runway, but was "too low and slow." The glider impacted the cornfield, substantially damaging the fuselage. The student pilot reported 13 total hours of flight experience, 1 of which was in make and model. He also reported no mechanical anomalies with the glider.
Probable cause
The student pilot's improper maneuvering at low altitude.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC08CA267
- Event ID
- 20080913X01447
- Case number
- NYC08CA267
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
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: ce2bc9c07a59f3d7c24807bc5c1f4a76e26e296310c6b1bd3a43dda53547125b; retrieved 2026-09-15T10:12:24.391Z.