Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Sky Soaring Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Union, Illinois 60180
Friday, May 10, 2002 14:00 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot lost control of the glider during the initial takeoff phase of an aero-tow launch. The pilot reported, "When I was ready to launch, I gave the wing-runner the signal to lift the wing and he did. I [signaled] the tow plane to begin take-off. At the start of the take-off roll, I gave a little right rudder input as the glider was veering left of the intended path. Almost immediately I saw the nose of the glider was moving very erratically. I decided to attempt to abort the launch by pulling the release." The pilot stated that after the tow-rope release was made, "... the plane was a few feet above the ground and it was out of control." The pilot reported the glider impacted the terrain on the north side of the runway. The pilot did not report any mechanical problems or malfunctions with the glider. A weather observation station, located at the De Kalb Taylor Municipal Airport (DKB), about 16 nautical miles (nm) from the accident site on a 213 degrees magnetic heading, recorded the wind conditions approximately 8 minutes after the accident as 260 degrees magnetic at 15 knots gusting to 18 knots.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot not maintaining aircraft control during the aero-tow takeoff. Factors to the accident were the high wind velocity and the gusting wind condition.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/10/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1400 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Union |
| Event State | ILLINOIS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 60180 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | Sky Soaring |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 55LL |
| 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 | 884 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1408 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 214 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | DKB |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 884 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 16 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 17 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -13 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 260 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 15 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 18 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.3 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 860 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 13155 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 10 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1740 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 18 2003 4:34PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | FAA - West Chicago FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N169LM |
| NTSB Number | CHI02LA131 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Glaser-Dirks-Flugzeubau |
| Aircraft Model | DG-100G |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | E1696135 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 922 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Number of Engines | -- |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 26 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 1055 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Richard Allen Mendralla |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1394 Campbell |
| Aircraft Owner City | Des Plaines |
| Aircraft Owner State | IL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 60016 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| 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? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | 55LL |
| Departure City | Union |
| Departure State | IL |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1400 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | 55LL |
| Destination City | Union |
| Destination State | IL |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 14 2003 9:03AM |
| User who most recently changed record | SULP |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 27 |
| Runway Length | 2300 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |