Incident Details
During an aerotow climb, a Piper towplane was towing a Schweizer SGS 2-33 glider. According to the towplane pilot, at approximately 200 feet above ground level (AGL), his aircraft abruptly pitched down. The towplane began to descend, and the pilot was unable to recover in time to prevent the aircraft from striking the ground.
The glider pilot reported that during the takeoff climb, he encountered an updraft that caused the glider to accelerate and climb despite his corrective actions. When he released the towrope, he heard a popping sound, and the glider pitched up. The airspeed reached 105 miles per hour, and the glider pitched to an angle of about 50 to 60 degrees. The glider continued climbing to approximately 650 feet AGL before slowing to 50 miles per hour, after which the pilot returned to land.
Pilot Background
Investigation revealed that the glider pilot had a total of 17 hours of flight time in gliders. However, he had not flown gliders for approximately two years prior to the day of the incident. The flight was his third of the day and the first without an instructor aboard.