WPR09LA313 · Rolladen-Schneider OHG LS3-A
Rolladen-Schneider OHG LS3-A · Accident: dragged wing/rotor/float/other during takeoff
From Primary Children's Lehi Heliport (UT99) to Primary Children's Lehi Heliport (UT99)
Event
- NTSB case
- WPR09LA313
- 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
Rolladen-Schneider OHG LS3-A
- Aircraft type
- Rolladen Schneider Ohg LS3
- 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
- N800JM
- Operator
- Steven G. Rathbun · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Primary Children's Lehi Heliport (UT99), Cedar Valley, UTTo Primary Children's Lehi Heliport (UT99), Cedar Valley, UT
- 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
- Defining eventThe 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
- Dragged wing/rotor/float/other
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Minor
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft structures
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
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 being towed aloft by a tow-plane. Takeoff procedures for the glider required that the flaps be set at 0 degrees until aileron effectiveness, and then the flaps should be set at 10 degrees. The pilot had 0 degrees of flaps selected, and during the ground roll, the left wing was dragging on the ground surface. He attempted to align the glider with the runway and removed his hand from the flap handle and placed it on the tow release handle, intending to abort the takeoff. He leveled the wings and the glider lifted from the runway. The pilot gained control of the glider and intended to extend the flaps 10 degrees; however, his hand was still on the tow release handle and he unintentionally pulled the tow release at 75 to 100 feet above ground level. During the forced landing, the pilot misjudged the flare, the glider landed hard, and the pilot sustained serious spinal injuries.
Probable cause
The pilot inadvertently applied the tow release handle.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record WPR09LA313
- Event ID
- 20090626X00533
- Case number
- WPR09LA313
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
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: c815e32dc360cf7ae6bf10102460802b35966b29b4c6248fad6224b58ce0a72a; retrieved 2026-09-15T11:36:45.598Z.