GAA18CA222 · Piper PA 25-235
Adirondack Soaring Association Piper PA 25-235 · Accident: glider tow event during takeoff
From Saratoga County Airport (5B2) to Saratoga County Airport (5B2)
Event
- NTSB case
- GAA18CA222
- 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
Piper PA 25-235
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-25
- 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
- N7247Z
- Operator
- Adirondack Soaring Association
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Saratoga County Airport (5B2), Saratoga Springs, NYTo Saratoga County Airport (5B2), Saratoga Springs, NY
- Aircraft age
- About 53 years (built 1965)
- 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
- Glider tow event
- 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 › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The tow plane pilot reported that, during takeoff for a glider tow, about 20 to 30 ft above ground, the airplane lurched forward and pitched nose down. He added that he pushed the tow line release mechanism forward, but it did not feel as if the tow line released. The airplane impacted the ground in a nose-low attitude, exited the runway, struck a runway light and runway sign, and ground looped.
The pilot of the glider being towed reported that, during takeoff, the glider became airborne and abruptly pitched into a steep, nose-high attitude, and he had lost sight of the tow airplane. He released the tow rope, maintained level flight attitude about 150 ft above ground, and landed on the grass adjacent to the runway without further incident.
The glider pilot reported in a follow up telephone conversation that the glider used a center of gravity (CG) hook set up for the glider tow.
The tow airplane sustained substantial damage to the right wing.
The pilot of the tow airplane and glider reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane and glider that would have precluded normal operation.
Federal Aviation Administration's Glider Flying Handbook, FAA-H-8083-13A, contains a section titled "CG Hooks" which states:
A CG hook, as compared to a nose hook, makes a crosswind takeoff more difficult since the glider can weathervane into the wind more easily. In addition, a CG hook makes the glider more susceptible to kiting on takeoff, especially if the CG is near the aft limit. This can present a serious danger to the towplane during the aerotow.
It also contains a section titled "Aerotow Takeoff Procedures" which states:
One of the most dangerous occurrences during aerotow is allowing the glider to fly high above and losing sight of the towplane. The tension on the towline caused by the glider pulls the towplane tail up, lowering its nose. If the glider continues to rise, pulling the towplane tail higher, the tow pilot may not be able to raise the nose. Ultimately, the tow pilot may run out of up elevator authority.
Probable cause
The glider pilot’s failure to maintain pitch during a CG aerotow, which resulted in the loss of control of the tow airplane.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record GAA18CA222
- Event ID
- 20180423X02255
- Case number
- GAA18CA222
- 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: c3f7f0c823720acd1544caa79281c21217b155555096a5e20e59971132ac55d0; retrieved 2026-09-16T06:53:19.426Z.