CEN16FA308 · PZL-Bielsko SZD 55-1
PZL-Bielsko SZD 55-1 · Accident: loss of control in flight during initial climb
From Chicago Glider Club Gliderport (IL59) to Chicago Glider Club Gliderport (IL59)
Event
- NTSB case
- CEN16FA308
- 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
PZL-Bielsko SZD 55-1
- Aircraft type
- PZL Bielsko SZD-55
- 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
- N551DR
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Chicago Glider Club Gliderport (IL59), Channahon, ILTo Chicago Glider Club Gliderport (IL59), Channahon, IL
- Aircraft age
- About 24 years (built 1992)
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
- 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 single-seat glider, flown by a private pilot, was being towed into the air by a tow airplane. During the takeoff ground run, the glider's right wing dropped and contacted the ground after the wing-runner let go of the right wing. The wings leveled momentarily, and then the left wing contacted the ground while the glider was veering slightly to the left. The pilot again leveled the wings briefly before the glider pitched up about 30° to 40° and became airborne. The tow airplane was still on its takeoff ground run when the glider pitched-up. As the glider climbed in a 30° to 40° nose-up attitude, the tow airplane took off, and, shortly thereafter, the glider released from the towline. The glider's pitch attitude leveled out, and it briefly entered a right turn before it entered an aerodynamic stall/spin about 150 ft above the ground. The tow airplane subsequently landed uneventfully with the towline still attached to its tail clasp mechanism.
A postaccident examination of the glider's airframe revealed no evidence of mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation. The complete span of towline and tow ring remained attached to the tow airplane and appeared undamaged, consistent with the glider pilot having intentionally released the towline. There was no evidence of a medical condition or substance use that contributed to the accident. The pilot likely was distracted by the wings contacting the ground during the takeoff run and allowed the glider to pitch-up into a rapid climb. After the pilot released the glider from the towline, he likely did not recognize that the glider was approaching stall speed and allowed the glider to exceed its critical angle of attack, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall at a low altitude.
Probable cause
The glider pilot's failure to maintain adequate pitch control while being towed and his subsequent failure to maintain adequate airspeed control after releasing from the towline, which resulted in the glider exceeding its critical angle of attack and an aerodynamic stall/spin at a low altitude.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CEN16FA308
- Event ID
- 20160807X20843
- Case number
- CEN16FA308
- 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: 97b92699923334e718fb818831cbc100f512d7696cc05694d9b1985165d87515; retrieved 2026-09-14T21:58:07.749Z.