Colorado Aviation Accidents & Incidents

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

On March 20, 2011, about 1415 mountain daylight time, a Glasflugel Standard Libelle glider, N99AE, impacted terrain near Wellington, Colorado. The commercial pilot, who was the sole occupant, was fatally injured. The glider sustained substantial wing damaged. The glider was registered to and operated by the pilot under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. Visual flight rules (VFR) conditions prevailed for the flight, which did not operate on a VFR flight plan. The local flight originated from the Owl Canyon Gliderport, near Wellington, Colorado, about 1406.

A witness at the gliderport saw the glider towed to pattern altitude and saw the glider release the tow. The witness saw the glider maneuver in steep bank turns and it descended during those turns. At one point, the glider was observed to enter a rapid "zoom" climb, followed by a brief period of inverted flight before descending, wings level, about 60 degrees pitch down, into terrain.

The Larimer County Sheriff’s office received 9-1-1 calls in reference to the glider and found the glider in the area of 16100 North County Road 7.


PERSONNEL INFORMATION

The 82-year-old pilot held a commercial pilot certificate with an airplane single-engine, instrument, lighter-than-air balloon, and glider ratings. The pilot also held a certified flight instructor certificate with airplane single-engine and glider ratings. Records obtained from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) showed that pilot's most recent application for a third-class medical was dated June13, 2010. On that application the pilot reported that he had accumulated over 15,000 hours of total flight time and had accumulated over 20 hours of flight time in the six months preceding that application.

An insurance company representative provided a copy of excerpts from the pilot's flight logbook. Those logbook excerpts did not contain a running total of the pilot’s flight time. An endorsement in the excerpts showed that the pilot completed a flight review on May 9, 2009.

According to a letter from the pilot’s physician, the pilot, in part, was found to have had:

a five-vessel coronary artery by-pass in January 1997 and a prior small
inferior myocardial infarction. A cardiac catheterization in 2008 showed
that all grafts were patent. He was not having angina nor congestive
heart failure. A pacemaker was last checked by his cardiologist on
February 4, 2011, and was functioning normally. His pacemaker
generator was changed in December 2010. His vital signs on
February 15, 2011 revealed a pulse of 76, blood pressure of 110/52. He
had excellent cognition and full decisional capacity. There was no
evidence of carotid artery obstruction. He typically took one
Hydrocodone 5/500 at bedtime to assist his sleep as he had chronic
neck pain from cervical disk disease.


AIRCRAFT INFORMATION

N99AE, was a Glasflugel Standard Libelle glider, serial number 182, construct