Schleicher ASW-15 N77VT accident near Navasota, Texas

Probable cause

An inadvertent aerodynamic stall during the approach for landing.

NTSB analysis

The pilot reported that the glider lost lift during the final leg of a cross-country flight. He chose to divert to a nearby airport to land; however, he subsequently realized that he would not be able to reach that airport, so he attempted to land in an open field. The pilot stated that, when he extended the spoilers at an indicated airspeed of 45 mph on the base leg of the approach, the glider inadvertently stalled and impacted terrain. He reported no preaccident failures or malfunctions with the glider that would have precluded normal operation. It is likely that the pilot deployed the spoilers with insufficient airspeed during the approach for landing, which resulted in the aerodynamic stall.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for CEN13LA369 for the full record.