Colorado Aviation Accidents & Incidents

On August 21, 1999, approximately 1100 mountain daylight time, a Piper PA-25, N6249Z, operated by Jensen Aircraft, Inc., was substantially damaged when it collided with terrain during an aborted landing at Salida, Colorado. The commercial pilot, the sole occupant aboard, was seriously injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed for the personal flight being conducted under Title 14 CFR Part 91. The flight originated at Salida approximately 1055.

According to the pilot's accident report, the operator had recently rebuilt N6249Z, and he had test flown the airplane. After a photographic session, the pilot decided to fly the airplane around the traffic pattern one more time before securing it for the day. The windsock indicated the wind was out of the northeast, so he took off on runway 6. He saw a glider, N99957, release from its tow plane, and he watched as the tow plane landed and taxied to its staging area. The glider was then "on a downwind and at the position he was at. . .I had plenty of time to land and turn off." He took his eyes off the glider to concentrate on his landing. When he touched down, ground personnel directed his attention to the glider that was touching down on the opposite end of the runway. "Evidently, he turned off his downwind pretty abruptly," the pilot wrote. N6249Z was "rolling too fast" to apply brakes, so the pilot elected to give way to the right. He applied power and lifted off, intending to land on the parallel taxiway. The glider exited the runway at the center intersection. The pilot turned slightly and the airplane "stalled."

The pilot of the glider, a Blanik L-13, N99957, said he released from the tow plane at an altitude of 8,800 feet "for a pattern tow over Poncha Springs." The glider was radio equipped, and the pilot said he reported "left downwind for [runway] 24." He then noticed an airplane near the end of runway 6, and asked if its pilot had him in sight. There was no answer. Shortly thereafter, the airplane took off, turning left at midfield. The pilot said he radioed his position when he was on base leg and when he turned onto final approach to runway 24. It was then that he noticed the airplane on final approach to runway 6. He watched as the airplane landed, then turn off to the north side of the runway onto the grass. He said that at that point, the airplane was "completely clear of the runway." Then he saw the airplane "take off at a very sharp angle of attack, bank right, stall" and impact the ground. "It looked a lot like a hammerhead stall at 30 feet," he wrote.

In a written statement submitted to the Chaffee County Sheriff's Office, the tow plane pilot said he towed N99957 "to altitude for a pattern tow." After the glider pilot released the tow, he entered the traffic pattern to drop the tow rope and land on runway 6. He noticed N6249Z at the end of the runway waiting to take off. After clearing the runway and shutting off