Burkhart Grob G 103 TWIN II N5489X

Summary

On 1 September 2012 at about 17:00 local time, a Burkhart Grob G 103 TWIN II registered N5489X, operated by El Paso Soaring Society Inc, was involved in an accident near El Paso, Texas, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

1 September 2012 at 17:00

Classification

Accident

Location

El Paso, Texas, United States

Nearest airport

Horizon Airport (T27)

Coordinates

31.7186, -106.2353

Aircraft

Burkhart Grob G 103 TWIN II

Registration

N5489X

Category

Glider

Operator

El Paso Soaring Society Inc

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Glider Tow

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

El Paso → El Paso

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN12LA605

1 person died.

The pilot‘s failure to maintain glider control while attempting to take off using a ground winch, which resulted in an inadvertent stall low to the ground. Contributing to the accident was the ground winch, which was unable to produce enough speed for a successful glider launch.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The glider club was launching gliders via a mechanical ground winch. On the first launch attempt, the glider overflew the tow cable and it automatically disconnected when the glider was low to the ground. The glider was able to make a safe landing on the runway. The pilot was overheard saying that the first launch failed because he should have initiated the climb sooner. On the second attempt, the glider once again overran the tow cable. Before the tow cable released, the pilot lowered the nose to pick up the slack in the cable and he instructed the winch operator to go faster. These two steps appeared to have corrected the problem, and the pilot initiated a climb. Shortly after, the glider began to overfly the cable again and it disconnected. The glider entered free flight just above stall speed about 75 feet above the runway. A witness saw the glider nose over and thought the pilot was going to land. Instead, the glider descended rapidly and drifted to the left toward a taxiway. The witness saw the wings of the glider rock back and forth before it impacted the ground hard. Examination of the glider and release hook revealed no mechanical anomalies. The ground winch's engine was reportedly running rough and most likely was unable to produce enough speed to launch the glider.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.