NTSB Factual Report

On September 23, 1998, approximately 1519 central daylight time, an amateur-built experimental Nicks PW-5 glider, N110WN, was substantially damaged when it collided with terrain during final approach to landing in a pasture near Waller, Texas. The commercial pilot, the sole occupant and the owner/builder of the glider, was fatally injured. No flight plan was filed and visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the Title 14 CFR Part 91 personal cross country flight that departed Coulter Field Airport in Bryan, Texas, at 1350. The flight's intended destination was the Soaring Club of Houston Gliderport near Waller.

The driver of a ground chase vehicle following the glider on its 37-nautical mile flight reported that about 1500, the pilot radioed that he was climbing over the Navasota Municipal Airport. (The Navasota Airport is located about two thirds of the way between Coulter Field and Houston Gliderport.) Approximately 1505, the pilot radioed that he was departing Navasota and heading toward Houston Gliderport. About 10 minutes later, the pilot radioed that he was "too low to make Houston Gliderport and too far from Navasota" and that he "had a pasture in sight and was landing out."

A witness, who was seated on his front porch, reported that he observed the glider coming from the north-northeast towards his house, at an altitude of "25 to 50 feet above the ground." The glider "made a sharp left turn away from the house," and its left wing tip hit the ground. The nose of the glider then impacted the ground "hard at a fairly steep angle," and the glider "slid sideways" and came to a stop.

The accident site was located approximately 3 miles northwest of the Houston Gliderport. According to the FAA inspector who examined the site, the glider impacted in an open field with a "slight uphill grade" to the south. The witness's house was located at the south (top) end of the field. Wreckage was distributed along a line that extended 112 feet south from the initial ground scar. The first piece of wreckage, found 26 feet from the ground scar, was the left wing tip. This was followed, in order, by the left wing, right wing tip, canopy, fuselage with right wing attached, and horizontal stabilizer.

An autopsy was performed by Paul W. Shrode, M.D., at the Joseph A. Jachimczyk Forensic Center of Harris County in Houston, Texas. Toxicological tests performed by the FAA's Civil Aeromedical Institute (CAMI) detected dextromethorphan (cough syrup) and trimethoprim (antibiotic) in the pilot's urine and liver. According to Dr. Canfield of CAMI, neither of these medications should have caused impairment.

According to a relative, the pilot had accumulated 3,263 total flight hours, of which 1,661 hours were in gliders. He had accumulated 15 hours flight time in N110WN.

NTSB Probable Cause

The pilot's failure to maintain terrain clearance.