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LAX86LUG02

1986-02-20 · HEMET, California, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport HMT

N24GW has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (IAI LTD GULFSTREAM G280, built 2022), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

DURING A TOW OPERATION, THE PLT OF THE TOW PLANE STATED THAT JUST AFTER TAKEOFF THE GLIDER ASSUMED A VERY LOW TOW POSITION, THEN SWUNG VERY HIGH TO THE RIGHT THEN TO THE LEFT. AT APRX 250 FT AGL THE GLIDER PLT RELEASED FROM THE TOW PLANE AND EXECUTED A 180 DEG TURN BACK TO THE ARPT. THE TOW PLANE PLT TURNED TO ESCORT THE GLIDER WHEN AT AN ALT OF 150 FT AGL THE GLIDER ENTERED AN 80 TO 90 DEG NOSEDOWN TURN WHICH WAS HELD TO IMPACT. A MEDICAL EXAMINATION OF THE PLT REVEALED THAT HE HAD A HISTORY OF HEART CONDITION AND AT THE TIME OF THE ACCIDENT EXPERIENCED AN ARRHYTHMIA ASSOCIATED WITH THE MOST RECENT MYOCARDIAL INFRACTION. THE PLTS RECORD OF FLT TIME WAS NOT AVAILABLE OR REPORTED. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1986_LAX86LUG02.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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