SEA96FA186 · Let L-13
Let L-13 · Accident: loss of control in flight while maneuvering
From Sanderson Field (SHN) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- SEA96FA186
- 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
- 1 · 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
Let L-13
- Aircraft type
- Let L-13
- 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
- N90865
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Sanderson Field (SHN)To 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
- Maneuvering
- 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
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Stall/spin
- 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
- Aircraft weight and balance › Exceeded
- Company/operator management › Information, not issued
- Pilot in command › Stall/spin, encountered
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
After receiving a glider certification on 7/24/96, the pilot (plt) logged about 2.1 hrs in a Let L-13 glider, before flying it solo. The initial solo was the accident flight (flt) on 8/10/96. On this flight, the plt planned to be towed to traffic pattern altitude, then release the glider, enter the traffic pattern, & land. Release occurred about 3 mi southwest of the airport at 1,850 ft. Airport elevation was 269 ft. Witnesses said the L-13 entered a right spin about 5 to 10 sec after release & continued spinning until ground impact. To keep the center-of-gravity (CG) from exceeding the aft limit, a placard had been installed in the cockpit, indicating the minimum front seat solo weight to be 150 lbs. The L-13's operating manual contained this & other info based on the L-13's original weight & balance (W/B) configuration. The plt weighed between 128 & 135 lbs, & a single 25 lb ballast bag was found in the wreckage. However, after repainting & modification with a non-standard tailwheel, the glider's revised W/B data indicated the current minimum front seat solo weight was 181 lbs. Based on this info (kept in the operator's maintenance shop), the glider's C.G. was computed to be 1.4 inches behind the aft limit. The plt's personal copy of the L-13 operating manual did not contain the revised W/B data. Copies of the glider's operating manual were being sold to renters without this info.
Probable cause
failure of the operator to provide its pilots with information essential for an accurate determination of the glider's weight and balance, the resultant operation of the glider with a center-or-gravity that exceeded the aft limit, and the pilot's inadvertent entry into a stall/spin. Factors relating to the accident were: an incorrect placard concerning the glider's minimum front seat solo weight limitation, and the pilot's lack of experience in the make and model of aircraft.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record SEA96FA186
- Event ID
- 20001208X06614
- Case number
- SEA96FA186
- 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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1996-08-11.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 210289d85af7553368bbb86d04f36552bf28c1ba2ebce09d898e898a94e92621; retrieved 2026-09-20T23:13:44.578Z.