- Date
- January 8, 1990, 13:30 local (18:30 UTC)
- Place
- Kutztown, PA
- Injuries
- 1 minor, 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N2637HSchweizer SGS 2-33A
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 30, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19900108020139A
- Case key
- 36595
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
Improper decision of the glider pilot to exit the glider without positive assurance that the tow pilot had received his signal or that the glider was released from the tow plane. A related factor to the accident was: the lack of crew coordination between the pilots.
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 performed a pretakeoff inspection of the glider, boarded and belted in a passenger, and hooked the glider to the tow plane. He then entered the glider and signaled to the tow plane that he was ready for takeoff. However, he noticed an imbalance in travel of the left rudder, opened the cockpit and signaled that he was aborting the flight. He waited momentarily to assure himself that the tow pilot had gotten the signal; when there was inaction on the part of the tow pilot, the glider pilot exited the cockpit to visually inspect the rudder area. While the glider pilot was out of the cockpit and the passenger in the rear seat, the tow pilot initiated a takeoff. Subsequently, the tow pilot released the glider and it crashed in a trailer park.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2637H
- Reported as
- Schweizer SGS 2-33A
- Category
- Glider
- Serial number
- 447
- Airframe hours
- 1,774
- Engine
- unknown
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Kutztown Aviation Service,Inc.
- Registered owner
- Kutztown Aviation Service
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 5, 1989 · 79 hours before
- Airport
- N31 · Kutztown, runway 17, 1,930 × 50 ft, asphalt
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
- 57
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Flight hours
- 3,000 total · 30 in this make and model · 2,000 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 270° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 8 statute miles
- Temperature
- 45 °F, dew point -0 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.