LAX06LA158 · Schweizer SGS 1-26D
Schweizer SGS 1-26D · Accident: loss of control in flight during initial climb
From Sampley's Airport (28AZ) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX06LA158
- 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
Schweizer SGS 1-26D
- Aircraft type
- Schweizer SGS-1
- 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
- N7729S
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Sampley's Airport (28AZ), Aguila, AZTo 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
- 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 in flight
- 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
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 descended into flat terrain during the initial climb in an aero tow. After obtaining takeoff acceleration, the glider became airborne in a normal trailing position behind the tow plane. When the tow plane reached an altitude of about 15 to 30 feet agl, the glider began to pitch nose-high, and the tow pilot felt the airplane's tail being pulled upward. The glider continued to pitch upward, and climbed about 150 feet agl before the tow rope broke. The glider pitched over in a slight nose-low attitude, and began a shallow turn to the runway. While in the turn, the glider's bank angle increased and the nose dropped. The glider's airspeed became very slow, and it continued to turn, eventually spiraling into the ground in a 50 to 60 degree nose-low attitude. A postaccident examination of the glider, including a detailed examination of the control system, revealed no anomalies that would have precluded normal operation.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain control of the glider during takeoff-initial climb, which resulted in a broken tow rope, a spiral, and an in-flight collision with terrain. A factor associated with the accident is the pilot's failure to correct the spiral.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX06LA158
- Event ID
- 20060510X00545
- Case number
- LAX06LA158
- 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: f20ed6fd0f06cfd8a660a0c7e079df1f4cb50d35e313fc3df0d45788fbdb4eb3; retrieved 2026-09-20T17:21:48.545Z.