Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Ephrata Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Ephrata, Washington 98823
Thursday, June 3, 1999 14:41 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During a glider tow, the glider pilot failed to ensure that his aircraft's spoilers were retracted in the locked position during takeoff. During the initial climb, the towplane pilot radioed 'SPOILERS, BOB, SPOILERS' and a witness observed seeing the spoilers extended. The glider pilot retracted the spoilers during which the glider entered a nose-high, pitch up attitude. Realizing he was in a high tow position, and before he was able to manually release the tow line from the glider, the tow rope broke in overload and within the specified tensile limits per regulatory requirements. A witness observed seeing the towplane climb to approximately 150 feet AGL and then pitch nose down, descending in an approximate 45 degree flight path to a wings level ground impact. The aircraft impacted the terrain 40-50 degrees nose low, wings-level with the engine developing power. Examination of the aircraft's tow hook release latch mechanism revealed the potential for binding of the release latch when the towed aircraft moved significantly above the horizontal (trail) position.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The glider pilot's failure to maintain control of his aircraft during spoiler retraction, which led to the Piper pilot's inability to recover safe flying airspeed within the altitude constraints at the time of the event. Contributing factors were the failure of the glider pilot to ensure that the spoilers were locked prior to takeoff, and the binding of the tow aircraft's tow hook release latch.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/3/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1441 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | EPHRATA |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 98823 |
| Event Date Year | 1999 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | EPHRATA MUNICIPAL |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | EPH |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 1272 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1452 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | EPH |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1272 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| 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) | 20 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 29 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 0 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 50 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 3500 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 998 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 3 1999 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1500 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 12 2000 11:40AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N3189Z |
| NTSB Number | SEA99FA080 |
| 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 | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | Ground |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-18-150 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-18-150 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 18-7182 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1750 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| 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 | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 5 1998 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 107 |
| Airframe Hours | 5887 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | PUGET SOUND SOARING ASSN |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 10014 SE 204 |
| Aircraft Owner City | KENT |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 98031 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| 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) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | EPH |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1440 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | |
| 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 10:35AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |