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Atlas / NTSB / ATL85LA267

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event ATL85LA267

1985-09-02 AIKEN, South Carolina, United States Airport · AIK None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N5DB

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

SAILPLANE HP-14

Year of manufacture

1973 · 12 years old at event

Engine

NONE NONE

Seats / Engines

1 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19791004

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A6358B

Registrant of record

SEBASTIAN DONALD K

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

PLT REPORTED THAT SAILPLANE WAS POSITIONED FOR A TOW IN TALL GRASS BESIDE THE RWY. HE SAID THAT DURING THE TAKEOFF THE LEFT WING WAS SLOWED BY THE TALL GRASS ALLOWING THE RIGHT WING TO ACCELERATE. THE SAILPLANE YAWED LEFT AND ROLLED LEFT UNTIL 90 DEGREES TO FLIGHT PATH. TOW ROPE DETACHED FROM TOW RING ON GLIDER. GLIDER PITCHED DOWN AND CONTACTED GROUND. FUSELAGE WAS BENT AS GLIDER SLID SIDEWAYS TO A STOP. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1985_ATL85LA267.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.