DEN84LA029 · Piper PA-18-180
Piper PA-18-180 and Waye Flights Burkhart Grob G103 · Accident: in flight collision with terrain/water during takeoff
Event
- NTSB case
- DEN84LA029
- 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
Aircraft 1 · Piper PA-18-180
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-18
- Category
- Airplane
- 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
- N3594P
- 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
- 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
- In flight collision with terrain/water
- 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/mush
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Aircraft 2 · Burkhart Grob G103
- Aircraft type
- Grob G103
- 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
- N4246L
- Operator
- Waye Flights
- 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
- 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
- In flight collision with object
- 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/mush
- 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
- Pilot in command › Preflight planning/preparation, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Stall/mush, improper use of
- Pilot of other aircraft › Preflight planning/preparation, inadequate
- Pilot of other aircraft › Stall/mush, inadvertent
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Colorado Springs, CO, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE PIPER PA-18, N3594P, WAS BEING USED TO TOW A BURKHART GROB FLUGZEUBAU G103 TWIN ASTIR, N4246L. AT 0950 MST, THE WIND WAS REPORTED FROM 310 DEG AT 9 KTS. SINCE THE TERRAIN SLOPED DOWNHILL TO THE SOUTH, RWY 17R (COVERED WITH HARD PACKED SNOW) WAS BEING USED FOR TAKEOFF. THE GLIDER CLUB HAD A POLICY THAT ALL TAKEOFFS WOULD BE MADE TO THE SOUTH, BUT NO TAKEOFFS WERE PERMITTED IF THE TAILWIND EXCEED 20 KTS. THE TOW PLT REPORTED THAT DURING TAKEOFF, A QUARTERING REAR GUST OF WIND WAS ENCOUNTERED & FORCED THE ACFT BACK ONTO THE RWY. THE ACFT TOUCH DOWN AT THE END OF THE RWY, ROLLED INTO SNOW & NOSED OVER. THE INSTRUCTOR PLT (CFI) IN THE GLIDER REPORTED THE GLIDER HAD JUST LIFTED OFF WHEN HE SAW THE TOW PLANE SETTLE TO THE GROUND & DISAPPEAR IN A CLOUD OF SNOW. THE GLIDER STUDENT RELEASED THE TOW ROPE. THE GLIDER ENTERED THE CLOUD OF SNOW. WHEN IT EMERGED FROM THE CLOUD, THE GLIDER AIRCREW SAW THE INVERTED TOW PLANE IMMEDIATELY AHEAD. THE LEFT WING OF THE GLIDER HIT THE RIGHT MAIN GEAR OF THE TOW PLANE. TOW PLT EST GUSTS, 15 KTS.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DEN84LA029
- Event ID
- 20001214X45042
- Case number
- DEN84LA029
- 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: 4aa80d24da15bb41c623677bc6bf119bc644976f55b728a068f6c3087e2669e0; retrieved 2026-09-23T21:05:47.341Z.