El Tiro - Private Glider Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Tucson, Arizona 85701
Wednesday, September 9, 1998 13:10 MST

The pilot reported that the glider was stored disassembled on a trailer. Upon arrival at the gliderport, he proceeded to reassemble the glider. He assembled the wings first, and then connected the aileron push rods, which are secured with ball lock safety pins. The pilot stated that he then inserted the pins in the left and right aileron push rod attach fittings and moved the control stick to check that the ailerons were properly engaged. No further discrepancies were noted with the reassembly of the glider or the preflight inspection. The pilot reported that the first takeoff was aborted due to a lack of directional control, which at the time he attributed to dust devils in the vicinity. On the second takeoff and initial climbout no discrepancies were noted until he reached 100 feet agl, when the pilot had difficulty maintaining straight and level flight. As the tow plane made a turn to the left, the glider turned to the right. The pilot released the glider from the tow plane and applied full left rudder and left aileron to stop the roll. The pilot stated that the glider maintained a 10-degree right wing down configuration. Upon touchdown the right wing collided with a brush and the glider ground looped. The glider was inspected after the accident and it was noted that the right aileron attach pin was inserted into the female part of the junction, but not through the ball joint of the aileron push rod. The push rod would have been lying in the fitting, but would not have been engaged. The pilot further attributed the lack of directional control on the first attempted takeoff to a lack of aileron control that he did not recognize at the time. No further discrepancies were noted with the glider.

Failure of the pilot to properly connect the aileron controls during reassembly of the glider, and, his inadequate preflight inspection of the glider.