LAX98LA084 · Let BLANIK L-13 BLANIK L-1
Let BLANIK L-13 BLANIK L-1 · Accident: loss of control on ground/water during takeoff
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX98LA084
- 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
Let BLANIK L-13 BLANIK L-1
- Aircraft type
- Let BLANIK 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
- N3463
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo 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
- Takeoff · roll/run
- 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 on ground/water
- 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
- Glider launch/tow equipment › Disconnected
- Ground personnel › Glider/tow release, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The glider uses two attachment points on its bridle, one on either side of the fuselage, and has a single retractable wheel in the center of the fuselage. The left side bridle attachment point for the glider became unattached as the glider began the winch tow. The asymmetrical force then pulled the glider to the left, and the left wing struck a parked truck. The glider then proceeded in a sharp angle away from the runway towards the windsock pole, still under tow on only the right side and still accelerating. The glider launched into the air and struck the top of the windsock pole with the inboard portion of the right wing. The pilot reported that he then pulled the release to disconnect the tow wire from the glider. The right wingtip then struck the ground and the glider swung around approximately 270 degrees as the fuselage and tail struck the ground and came to a stop. According to an FAA inspector, the bridle was incorrectly attached at the time of the accident by the ground crew.
Probable cause
The failure of the ground crew to correctly attach the tow bridle, which resulted in the pilot's loss of directional control.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX98LA084
- Event ID
- 20001211X09474
- Case number
- LAX98LA084
- 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: ac483bf3b76dfb749b98778c9ade2dbb430b0a6d1e21e491904988a565ad2fd2; retrieved 2026-09-22T18:05:02.851Z.