Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Los Alamitos Army Airfield Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Los Alamitos, California 90720
Tuesady, July 11, 2006 15:00 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The glider stalled and collided with terrain during takeoff. The operator was using a winch to launch the glider and as the winch operator watched it become airborne, he diverted his eyes from the winch gauges. When he looked back at them, he realized that he was accelerating the glider faster than desired and he reduced the winch's power momentarily. The glider stalled at 80 feet above ground level and it landed hard, which resulted in substantial damage to the left wing. The Glider Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-13) notes that a pilot should be ready for a takeoff any time that the towline is attached to the glider. It advises the pilot to smoothly raise the nose to the proper pitch attitude after liftoff, and watch for an increase in airspeed. The handbook says to avoid raising the nose too rapidly or steeply, as it may be difficult or impossible for the pilot to recover from the steep pitch attitude if the towline breaks or the launch mechanism loses power. It also says to avoid raising the nose too slowly, as the glider may gain excessive airspeed or not attain the planned release speed. If this situation occurs, it advises the pilot to pull the release, and land straight ahead.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
failure of the winch operator to maintain an adequate winch tow speed, resulting in a stall and hard landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/11/2006 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1500 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Los Alamitos |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 90720 |
| Event Date Year | 2006 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 334724N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1180307W |
| Event Location Airport | Los Alamitos Army Airfield |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | SLI |
| 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 | 35 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1455 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SLI |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 35 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| 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) | 7 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 28 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 17 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 190 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 9 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.89 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 22394 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 11 2006 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 29 2007 8:02AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-FSDO-Long Beach, CA |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N381BA |
| NTSB Number | LAX06TA234 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | LET |
| Aircraft Model | SUPER BLANIK L-23 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 018801 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1124 |
| Aircraft Category | Glider |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| 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 | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | -- |
| ELT Activated | -- |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | -- |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Civil Air Patrol |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 105 S Hansell St |
| Aircraft Owner City | Maxwell AFB |
| Aircraft Owner State | AL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 36112 |
| 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) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | SLI |
| Departure City | Los Alamitos |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1500 |
| 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 | Oct 4 2007 6:16PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 22L |
| Runway Length | 8000 |
| Runway Width | 200 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |