WPR16LA096 · DG Flugzeugbau Gmbh DG 800B
DG Flugzeugbau Gmbh DG 800B · Accident: powerplant system/component malfunction/failure on approach
From Byron Airport (C83) to Byron Airport (C83)
Event
- NTSB case
- WPR16LA096
- 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
DG Flugzeugbau Gmbh DG 800B
- Aircraft type
- DG 800
- 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
- N800YG
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Byron Airport (C83), Byron, CATo Byron Airport (C83), Byron, CA
- Aircraft age
- About 18 years (built 1998)
- 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 · VFR pattern downwind
- 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
- Powerplant system/component malfunction/failure
- 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
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, not marked as estimated; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
After gliding for about 2 ½ hours cross-country, the motorglider began to encounter reduced lift conditions. The private pilot intended to start the engine so that he could return to the departure airport under powered flight but also identified a nearby field for landing in case the engine did not start. As the glider overflew the field, the pilot extended the propeller and attempted three times to start the engine; however, it did not start. With limited altitude, increased drag from the propeller and mast, and an unanticipated headwind, the glider was unable to reach the landing target and impacted trees, resulting in substantial damage.
Postaccident examination did not reveal any anomalies with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation, and the engine started on the third attempt. The pilot stated that he had used a tow plane for departure on the accident flight and that the engine had not been operated for about 5 months leading up to the accident. He further stated that, in his experience, motorgliders could be prone to engine starting difficulties, especially after a period of nonuse.
The pilot attempted the engine start at an altitude below that recommended by the glider manufacturer, thereby reducing his margin for error when the engine did not start. He also reported that he spent too much time and attention on starting the engine and not enough on landing. Had the pilot initiated the engine start procedure at a higher altitude, he likely would have had sufficient time to complete the emergency starting and off-airport landing procedures, restow the propeller, and focus on the task of the off-airport landing.
Probable cause
The motorglider pilot's decision to perform an in-flight engine start with insufficient altitude, which resulted in an off-airport landing and collision with trees after the engine did not start. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's distraction by the engine restart procedures during a critical portion of the landing approach.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record WPR16LA096
- Event ID
- 20160425X12027
- Case number
- WPR16LA096
- 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: local date, investigation status, coordinates. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 2016-04-25.
- API snapshot SHA-256: f441223b70a79a4b2c5465429bcb22226a948f64841c16d6a4ba2900f4311462; retrieved 2026-09-16T03:19:24.248Z.