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LAX82FA136 · Schleicher ASW-20

15 Apr 1982 · Tulare, CA, United States

Schleicher ASW-20 and Burkhart Grob Flugzeugbah SPEED ASTIR II SPEED ASTI · Accident: midair collision en route

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Event

NTSB case
LAX82FA136
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

Aircraft 1 · Schleicher ASW-20

Aircraft type
Schleicher ASW-20
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
N6KS
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Tulare, CATo Tulare, CA
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
En route · climb to cruise
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
Midair collision
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 Flugzeugbah SPEED ASTIR II SPEED ASTI

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
N161SS
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Tulare, CATo Tulare, CA
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
En route · climb to cruise
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
Midair collision
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 › Emergency procedure, improper
  • Pilot in command › Visual lookout, inadequate
  • Pilot of other aircraft › Visual lookout, inadequate

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

AFTER RELEASING FROM THE TOW AIRCRAFT, THE GLIDER PILOT PROCEEDED TO GAIN ALTITUDE IN A THERMAL ALONG WITH OTHER SAILPLANES. AT AN ALTITUDE OF ABOUT 4000 FT MSL, A COLLISION OCCURRED WITH ONE OF THE OTHER SAILPLANES. ABOUT 9 FT OF THE LEFT WING SEPARATED AND THE PLANE WENT OUT OF CONTROL. THE PILOT FAILED TO RELEASE THE CANOPY, BUT WAS ABLE TO FREE HIMSELF FROM THE PLANE. REPORTEDLY, HE HAD SUFFICIENT TIME AND ALTITUDE TO OPEN HIS PARACHUTE, BUT THE CHUTE DID NOT OPEN. AN EXAMINATION OF THE PARACHUTE REVEALED THAT THE RIP CHORD WAS EXTENDED WITH PINS FREE OF THE BACK PACK RETAINERS. THE PILOT CHUTE WAS DEPLOYED ALONG WITH A SMALL PORTION OF THE MAIN CHUTE. THE PILOT OF THE OTHER GLIDER BAILED OUT SUCCESSFULLY.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX82FA136
Event ID
20020917X02282
Case number
LAX82FA136
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: 02425d7ece695f79fc69a9b763eafa15b8bf692c1d7db132dd929138a1a9b8dd; retrieved 2026-09-21T08:32:11.856Z.