- Date
- July 26, 1989, 13:59 local (20:59 UTC)
- Place
- Marana, AZ
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N808VVFlug-Und Fahrzeugwerke Diament 16.5
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report October 24, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890726025409A
- Case key
- 26453
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 loss of aircraft control resulting from an uncommanded upward pitch shortly after lift off.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The pilot and a witness reported the glider unexpectedly pitched up, stalled and collided with the ground shortly after lift off from a glider port. A suspected rod to the elevator was examined by a metallurgist. He concluded there was no evidence of fatigue or corrosion and the failure was the result of a single rapid overload. There were no other anomalies found with the aircraft flight control system.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N808VV
- Reported as
- Flug-Und Fahrzeugwerke Diament 16.5 (DIAMENT 16)
- Category
- Glider
- Serial number
- 037
- Airframe hours
- 792
- Engine
- Unknown UNKNOWN, unknown
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- George Kulesza
- Registered owner
- George G Corwell-Kulesza
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · July 20, 1989 · 20 hours before
- Airport
- El Tiro, runway 26R, 5,100 × 175 ft, gravel
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
- 44
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Center
- Flight hours
- 975 total · 38 in this make and model · 882 as pilot in command · 43 in the last 90 days · 42 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 270° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 100 °F, dew point 54 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.