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DEN02LA067 · Schreder RS-15

1 Jul 2002 · Jackson, WY, United States

Schreder RS-15 · Accident: in flight collision with terrain/water while maneuvering

From U59 · Driggs, ID to an unrecorded destination

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Event

NTSB case
DEN02LA067
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
Unknown
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

Schreder RS-15

Aircraft type
Schreder RS-15
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
N33515
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From U59 · Driggs, IDTo 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
In flight collision with terrain/water
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Destroyed

Cause areas

  • Pilot in command › Clearance, not maintained

Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

The glider was observed circling the summit block of Grand Teton Mountain. A witness reported seeing the glider proceed southeast to northwest. The glider's left wing contacted the mountain approximately 150 feet below the summit. The witness reported seeing the wing crumple and then hearing a loud noise. The glider then disappeared behind the north side of the mountain. The wreckage was located the following morning. The glider wreckage was spread down the north face of Grand Teton Mountain beginning approximately 200 feet below the summit and extending down the mountain approximately 1,500 feet. A wing was identified as resting approximately 700 feet below the summit in the wreckage path. The reported weather in the area, about the time of the accident, was clear skies, visibility 10 statute miles, temperature 75 degrees F, winds 240 degrees at 19 knots with gusts to 28 knots, and an altimeter setting of 30.18 inches of Mercury.

Probable cause

the pilot's failure to maintain adequate clearance from the mountain summit.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record DEN02LA067
Event ID
20020708X01057
Case number
DEN02LA067
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, coordinates. 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: 66a1199f1b4cc17be208dad44bca0368d3bc923866ed04530da2fd410490591f; retrieved 2026-09-20T19:58:18.294Z.