The National Transportation Safety Board released its preliminary report on a glider crash last month near the Herlong Recreational Airport that killed the pilot.
According to the NTSB preliminary report, the glider pilot, identified by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office as a 66-year-old man, brought the glider components to Herlong that day and assembled it himself. When he was in the air being towed, the glider was seen to be climbing and then descending. The glider pilot was heard on the radio telling the tow pilot to “take it easy ... something is not right,” and seconds later, the glider pilot was heard telling the tow pilot to release.
But another pilot told NTSB that he saw the entire sequence. That pilot said, once released, the glider “stalled and nosed over” and then went into a secondary stall and crashed, hitting the ground with its left wing first, according to the report. The tail section separated on impact, the report shows.
News4JAX aviation expert Ed Booth said a preflight check would have alerted the pilot that the glider was not ready for flight.Booth showed News4JAX how he checks his flight controls to make sure the ailerons attached to the wings and elevator move up and down. “You turn the controls to the right and look out the window to make sure the right aileron moves in the up position and the left aileron moves in the down position,” he explained. “You are looking for correct movement and you looking for full movement.”
The Federal Aviation Administration requires all pilots to go through a preflight check before launching their aircraft, and some checks are a lot more extensive depending on the type of aircraft.