SEA04LA187 · WSK PZL Warzawa-Okecie PZL-104 Wilga 80
WSK PZL Warzawa-Okecie PZL-104 Wilga 80 · Accident: loss of control on ground/water during initial climb
From Columbia Gorge Regional Airport (DLS) to Columbia Gorge Regional Airport (DLS)
Event
- NTSB case
- SEA04LA187
- 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
- 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
WSK PZL Warzawa-Okecie PZL-104 Wilga 80
- Aircraft type
- WSK PZL Warzawa Okecie PZL-104
- 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
- N10RN
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Columbia Gorge Regional Airport (DLS), The Dalles, ORTo Columbia Gorge Regional Airport (DLS)
- 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
- Initial climb
- 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
- Pilot in command › Aircraft control, not maintained
- Pilot of other aircraft › Proper climb rate, 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
Both the tow plane pilot and the glider pilot in tow reported strong gusting winds from their left at the time of takeoff. The tow plane pilot and one witness reported that the glider gained altitude rapidly and raised the tail of the tow plane. The tow plane pilot was unable to maintain control as the aircraft was pulled to the left. The tow line was released and the glider pilot aborted his takeoff and landed straight ahead without further incident. The tow plane veered off the side of the runway, traveling over rough terrain. The tow plane subsequently nosed over coming to rest inverted. The glider pilot reported that just after the tow plane lifted off a gust of wind raised the left wing and the right main landing gear touched the runway surface. The glider pilot seeing that the tow plane was in trouble, released from the tow plane and landed on the remaining runway. At the time of the accident, the winds were reported from 310 degrees at 19 knots, gusting to 26 knots. Takeoff was from runway 2.
Probable cause
Aircraft control was not maintained by the tow plane pilot and the glider pilot did not maintain a proper climb rate during the initial climb. A direct crosswind and wind gusts were factors.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record SEA04LA187
- Event ID
- 20040914X01425
- Case number
- SEA04LA187
- 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: cc1675a0cb60b12fc340f54538b65377d30ed97b6a537a7681e465380d59204b; retrieved 2026-09-21T19:08:41.284Z.