Shempp-Hirth Discuss B accident near Tipton, Indiana, August 5, 2006
On August 5, 2006 at about 6:57 pm local time, a Shempp-Hirth Discuss B (glider), registered N888TK, suffered minor damage in an accident near Tipton, Indiana. It was a personal flight under general aviation rules (Part 91). 1 person was seriously injured. The weather was visual conditions (good weather).
The NTSB's probable cause their words, unchanged
The glider pilot's improper in-flight decision to continue searching for thermal lift, instead of landing when the glider was in range of a suitable landing area. Contributing factors to the accident was the lack of thermal lift which resulted in a hard landing in the cornfield.
Source: NTSB aviation accident database, copy made October 5, 2026. Docket and reports at the NTSB.
What the record shows
- Date
- August 5, 2006 · about 6:57 pm local time
- Place
- Tipton, Indiana · map
- Type
- Accident
- Injuries
- 1 person was seriously injured.
- Weather
- visual conditions (good weather)
- Aircraft
- Shempp-Hirth Discuss B
- Registration
- N888TK · registry record · serial 134
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Flight
- Personal flight · general aviation rules (Part 91)
The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record
The glider pilot was seriously injured during an off-field landing. The pilot reported that while maneuvering near a suitable landing area the glider encountered an area of sinking air. The pilot stated that instead of landing in the available open, uncultivated field, he elected to maneuver toward a "better looking cloud a mile or so further west and away from my selected landing field." The pilot reported that, "On the way to this cloud I encountered strong sinking air, which often surrounds a thermal." The pilot stated that he eventually elected to turn back towards where he came from, but encountered "even heavier-sinking air" and that he did not have enough altitude to glide back to his selected landing site. The pilot reported that the only landing areas available at that time were established cornfields. The pilot stated that he "made a carefully controlled descent into the corn, so not to put one wing in first and cause a cartwheel landing." The pilot reported the glider traveled about 40 feet into the corn crop before the airplane decelerated and dropped "vertically from about 3 to 4 feet." The pilot fractured three vertebrae during the hard landing. The glider sustained minor damage, limited to the gear doors.
The complete narrative as the NTSB published it. The NTSB's docket holds the report as a PDF and any photographs, statements and other documents from the investigation.
The factual record from the NTSB's investigation tables, in plain English
Pilot
- Certificate: flight instructor, commercial pilot
- Ratings: single-engine land; instructor: glider; rotorcraft: glider
- Flight time: 1,034 hours in all; 116 in this make and model; 33 in the last 90 days; 9 in the last 30 days; 980 as pilot in command; 542 on instruments
- Last flight review: August 1, 2004
- Medical certificate: None
- Seat: sngl
- Injury: serious injuries
The aircraft
- Airframe total time: 1,852 hours
- Last inspection: annual inspection, January 1, 2006
- Maximum gross weight: 1,157 lb
- Seats: 1
- Landing gear: retractable
- Engine:; 0 hours total
The flight
- Departed from: I99 Alexandria IN at 5:12 pm
- Destination: I99
- Flight plan: none
Weather at the time
- Light: daylight
- Wind: from 100° at 11 knots
- Visibility: 10 statute miles
- Sky: scat at 5,500 ft
- Temperature: 82°F (28°C), dew point 63°F (17°C)
- Altimeter: 30.12 inHg
- Observation at 6:53 pm from MIE, 30 miles away
Injuries
| Fatal | Serious | Minor | None | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crew | 1 |
Documents from the investigation the NTSB's docket: the evidence folder behind the report
The docket, the folder of records gathered during an investigation (maintenance records, photographs, witness statements, examinations), has not been read from the NTSB for this case yet; the list appears here once it has. Open the docket at the NTSB.
Everything on this page comes from the NTSB's public records. The narrative, probable cause and findings are the NTSB's own words; the coded tables behind the report are written out in plain English, with pilots' ages, home towns and medical details left out. The documents and photographs are the NTSB's docket, shown as the NTSB released them. This site's own text never names anyone involved. A preliminary report can change; the final report usually follows one to two years later, and the page is refreshed when it does.