ERA14CA126 · Schempp-Hirth VENTUS 2B
Schempp-Hirth VENTUS 2B · Accident: loss of lift while maneuvering
From Shiflet Field (9A9) to Shiflet Field (9A9)
Event
- NTSB case
- ERA14CA126
- 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
Schempp-Hirth VENTUS 2B
- Aircraft type
- Schempp Hirth VENTUS 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
- N411SD
- Operator
- Campbell Jay D
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Shiflet Field (9A9), Marion, NCTo Shiflet Field (9A9), Marion, NC
- 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
- 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
- Loss of lift
- 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
- 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
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
- Aircraft › Aircraft structures
- Personnel issues › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
According to the glider pilot, he did "crack" open the spoilers during tow a little due to the turbulent air that day. Immediately after releasing from the tow airplane, the glider went into a nose down attitude. He overheard the tow pilot say that his spoilers were deployed. He retracted the spoilers and then attempted to gain attitude but was out of lift. He saw a golf course to the north but then realized that he would not make the intended landing area, and chose an area that looked like it had small trees. According to the pilot towing the glider, they departed and flew about 15 minutes to the glide area. The glider was released and began a nose down attitude towards the ground. She stated that the glider's dive brakes were deployed. The tow pilot radioed the glider pilot, asking him if everything was "ok". The accident pilot responded back on the radio with what the she thought was an "affirmative", which later was determined to be a "negative". The tow pilot continued to watch the glider in a sharp dive until it impacted trees.
Post-accident examination of the airplane revealed that the left and right wing leading edges, and the empennage sustained substantial damage due to impact with trees. Control continuity from the flight controls to all surfaces was verified. The pilot reported no pre-impact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Probable cause
The pilot's improper use of the spoilers, which resulted in an uncontrolled descent and subsequent impact with trees.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ERA14CA126
- Event ID
- 20140220X93300
- Case number
- ERA14CA126
- 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. 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: afc6bfe8ca6212a8f528d59365007dbf914212f9f208f9797b3baa092511ce83; retrieved 2026-09-15T23:20:03.305Z.