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Atlas / NTSB / ERA25LA303

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event ERA25LA303

2025-08-16 Springfield, Vermont, United States Airport · VSF Serious 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N99KG

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

CENTRAIR 101A

Seats / Engines

1 seats · 1 engine

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S ADD132

Registrant of record

XANDER BRIAN K

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s failure to assemble the glider’s elevator control before takeoff.

Factual narrative

During his preflight assembly of the glider, the pilot got distracted and failed to connect the elevator control. During the subsequent takeoff, once the glider became airborne, the pilot realized there was no elevator control and immediately released himself from the tow airplane. The glider nosed down and impacted the ground resulting in substantial damage to the fuselage and tail boom. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).

  • Personnel issues-Task performance-Inspection-Preflight inspection-Pilot
  • Aircraft-Aircraft systems-Flight control system-Elevator control system-Not installed/available

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2025_ERA25LA303.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.