- Date
- May 14, 2025, 13:00 local (18:00 UTC)
- Place
- Hinckley, IL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N246GCRolladen-Schneider LS-6B
- Defining event
- Takeoff: Dragged wing/rotor/float/other
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA - Greater Chicago FSDO
- FAA report
- 20250514005819A
- Case key
- 200156
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The pilot’s failure to maintain control of the glider during takeoff.
Findings · 1
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The pilot reported that he lost control of the glider during the first few seconds of the aerotow takeoff and the glider’s left wing contacted the ground. He stated that he released the glider from the tow airplane, but the glider cartwheeled. The pilot noted that he did not have a wing runner for the takeoff attempt. At the time of the accident the pilot reported that there was nothing mechanically wrong with the glider and that he had “poor airmanship” and was rushing in his flight preparations. The glider sustained substantial damage to the fuselage.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N246GC
- Reported as
- Rolladen-Schneider LS-6B
- Category
- Glider
- Serial number
- 6193
- Airframe hours
- 1,823
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 11, 2025
- Airport
- 0C2 · Hinckley, runway 09/27, 2,640 × 100 ft, grass/turf
- Equipment
- None
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 56
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Last flight review
- February 27, 2025
- Seat
- Single
- Restraint
- 5-point
- Flight hours
- 2,100 total · 3 in this make and model · 2,050 as pilot in command · 10 in the last 90 days · 10 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 110° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 8 statute miles
- Temperature
- 81 °F, dew point 61 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.73 inHg
- Observed at
- KARR, 10 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KARR 141752Z 11003KT 8SM SCT041 27/16 A2973 RMK AO2 SLP063 T02670161 10267 20161 58013=
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on August 11, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 24.1 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.