Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Val Air Gliderport Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Durango, Colorado 81301
Saturday, July 24, 1993 14:50 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
BOTH THE GLIDER AND TOW PLANE PILOTS AGREED THAT IF THE GLIDER WAS AIRBORNE BY MIDFIELD, THE GLIDER PILOT WOULD RELEASE THE TOW. TAKEOFF WAS NORMAL AND THE GLIDER WAS AIRBORNE BEFORE MIDFIELD. THE TOW PLANE PILOT, HOWEVER, ENCOUNTERED A WIND GUST OR SHEAR THAT LIFTED THE TOW PLANE, THEN CAUSED IT TO SETTLE TO THE GROUND. HE SENSED HE WAS NOT ACCELERATING AND GAINING ALTITUDE AS HE SHOULD. HE RELEASED THE TOW LINE. THE GLIDER PILOT FOLLOWED THE TOW PLANE TO MAINTAIN PROPER TOW POSITION. AS THE TOW PLANE CLIMBED OUT, HE REALIZED HE HAD BEEN RELEASED AND SAW HIS AIRSPEED DETERIORATING. THE RIGHT WING BEGAN TO STALL AND DROP. HE ATTEMPTED TO LAND IN AN EMPTY PARKING LOT, BUT THE RIGHT WING STRUCK THE RAILING OF AN OBSERVATION DECK. THE TOW PLANE PILOT SAID HE FAILED TO WARN THE GLIDER PILOT ABOUT THE TOW RELEASE BECAUSE HE ASSUMED HE WOULD SEE AND FEEL THE RELEASE, AND HE DID NOT WANT TO DISTRACT HIM FROM FLYING AND GLIDER.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
THE FAILURE OF THE TOW PLANE PILOT TO WARN THE GLIDER PILOT THAT HE WAS RELEASING THE TOW LINE. A FACTOR WAS: AN INADVERTENT STALL BY THE PILOT IN COMMAND.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/24/1993 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1450 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | DURANGO |
| Event State | COLORADO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 81301 |
| Event Date Year | 1993 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | VAL AIR GLIDERPORT |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | CD82 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 6549 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | 0 |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 24 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 5 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 330 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 8766 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 2 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 521 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 26 1993 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 648 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | 50428 |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 21 2002 2:54PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\GIUV |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N48069 |
| NTSB Number | DEN93LA085 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | LET |
| Aircraft Model | L-13 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | L-13 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 026129 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1102 |
| Aircraft Category | Glider |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 0 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 11 1993 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 90 |
| Airframe Hours | 2102 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | ST. CLAIR, LAVERN D. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 2581 COUNTY ROAD 203 |
| Aircraft Owner City | DURANGO |
| Aircraft Owner State | CO |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 81301 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | ST. CLAIR, LAVERN D. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | 2581 COUNTY ROAD 203 |
| Operator City | DURANGO |
| Operator State | CO |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 81301 |
| Operator Code | |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | CD82 |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1450 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | CD82 |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:34AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 35 |
| Runway Length | 3500 |
| Runway Width | 240 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |