LAX95LA196 · Rolladen-Schneider LS-6
Rolladen-Schneider LS-6 · Accident: loss of control in flight during initial climb
From IO5 to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX95LA196
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Rolladen-Schneider LS-6
- Aircraft type
- Rolladen Schneider LS-6
- Category
- Glider
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N64UW
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From IO5To not recorded
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Initial climb
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Loss of control in flight
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Flt control syst, aileron control cable/rod › Not connected
- Pilot in command › Aircraft preflight, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Maintenance, installation, not performed
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
GROUND WITNESSES OBSERVED THE ACCIDENT SEQUENCE AND REPORTED THAT THE GLIDER WAS BEING TOWED ALOFT BY A TOW PLANE. THE WITNESSES SAID THE TOW PLANE LIFTED OFF NORMALLY; HOWEVER, THE GLIDER DID NOT SEEM TO LIFT OFF IN A NORMAL MANNER. AS THE GLIDER ACHIEVED ABOUT 50 FEET AGL, THE PILOT RELEASED THE TOW LINE. THE GLIDER THEN BANKED SLIGHTLY TO THE LEFT, THEN ROLLED TO THE RIGHT. THE RIGHT ROLL CONTINUED UNTIL THE GLIDER WAS AT A VERY STEEP BANK ANGLE AND ENTERED A SPIRAL, WHICH CONTINUED TO GROUND IMPACT. ACCORDING TO THE WITNESSES, NO ONE SAW THE PILOT PERFORM A CONTROL CONTINUITY CHECK AFTER ASSEMBLY OF THE GLIDER PRIOR TO TAKEOFF. A FAA AIRWORTHINESS INSPECTOR RESPONDED TO THE ACCIDENT SITE AND EXAMINED THE GLIDER. HE REPORTED THAT THE GLIDER IS EQUIPPED WITH QUICK DISCONNECT FITTINGS ON THE CONTROL SYSTEM PUSH/PULL TUBES IN THE WING CENTER SECTION. THE FITTINGS ALLOW THE CONTROL SYSTEM TO BE DISCONNECTED AND RECONNECTED AS THE WINGS ARE REMOVED OR INSTALLED. THE RIGHT AILERON/FLAPERON FITTING WAS FOUND DISCONNECTED.
Probable cause
the pilot's failure to properly connect the aileron/flaperon quick disconnect fitting during assembly of the glider, and his inadequate preflight inspection.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX95LA196
- Event ID
- 20001207X03499
- Case number
- LAX95LA196
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 34214c9f2dbccf6aea9b6e622ab02fa296bfb8c8fa28aa037cd22132a69a9831; retrieved 2026-09-21T13:16:07.957Z.