Missed the Field, From 7200 Feet

Since every landing in a glider is a 'forced landing,' this one must have been particularly interesting...

The pilot was identified in local reports as 'Norman,' and he and his passenger had the ride of their lives. According to the plane's owners at Sailplane Ride Adventures (Dillingham Field, HI), nobody was supposed to be flying at the time, due to gusty winds.

'Norman,' a regular renter at the facility, and his passenger had been flying for about an hour when, at about 7200 feet, he decided to landback at Dillingham. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin was told, "...Norman could not land at Dillingham because of the wind and because he was too low. Norman was able to land at the beach park."

It's not been definitively established, but it looks as though the landing was on the water, about 30 feet out; and the waves pushed the Grob back onto the sand. 'Norman' was injured, cutting his head on the broken canopy, as he climbed out; the male passenger was reportedly uninjured.

Beachcombers helped both men out of the downed machine.

The Star-Bulletin quoted many witnesses as being surprised that there was "no sound," as the glider came in. No fire, either... strange.

**   Report created 1/21/2003   Record 1   **
IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 103SH        Make/Model: G103      Description: G-103C TWIN 3SL
  Date: 01/19/2003     Time: 2246
  Event Type: Incident   Highest Injury: Minor     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Minor
LOCATION
  City: WAIALUA, OAHU   State: HI   Country: US
DESCRIPTION
  ACFT MADE AN EMERGENCY LANDING ON A BEACH AND WAS HIT BY A WAVE, WAIALUA, HI
INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   0
                 # Crew:  1     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   1     Unk:   
                 # Pass:   0     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Grnd:         Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
WEATHER: HDH UNICOM 191256Z WINDS 270015G41KT
OTHER DATA
  Activity: Pleasure      Phase: Landing      Operation: General Aviation
  Departed: MOKULEIA, HI                Dep Date: 01/19/2003   Dep. Time:
  Destination: MOKULEIA, HI             Flt Plan: NONE         Wx Briefing: N
  Last Radio Cont: NONE
  Last Clearance: NONE
  FAA FSDO: HONOLULU, HI  (WP13)                  Entry date: 01/21/2003
 SAILPLANE RIDE ADVENTURES COM 
Street  PO BOX 518 
City  WAIALUA  State HAWAII    Zip Code    96791-0518 
County  HONOLULU