(Sandy McAusland) wrote in message . com...
I heard a report of a collision between a glider and a power plane
somewhere in California sometime in December 2003. Does anyone have
any info on this ??

Information is available online from the NTSB site.

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?e...08X00028&key=2

NTSB Identification: ANC04FA016A
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Sunday, December 28, 2003 in Peoria, AZ
Aircraft: Piper J3C-65, registration: N2094M
Injuries: 2 Fatal.


NTSB Identification: ANC04FA016B
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Sunday, December 28, 2003 in Peoria, AZ
Aircraft: Schleicher ASK-21, registration: N274KS
Injuries: 2 Fatal.

This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain
errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final
report has been completed.

On December 28, 2003, about 1312 mountain standard time, a
wheel-equipped Piper J3C-65 airplane, N2094M, and a Schleicher ASK-21
aerobatic glider, N274KS, were destroyed during an in-flight collision
about one-half mile north of the Pleasant Valley Airport, Peoria,
Arizona. The two occupants of the Piper, and the two occupants of the
glider, were fatally injured. The two aircraft collided after the
Piper departed runway 05L at the Pleasant Valley Airport, and turned
southbound, into the area where the glider was performing aerobatic
maneuvers. Witnesses reported that following the collision, both
aircraft entered uncontrolled descents and impacted the desert terrain
north of the airport. The private pilot of the Piper was seated in the
rear seat, and the airplane owner, a commercial pilot and certificated
flight instructor, was seated in the front seat. The Piper was being
operated under Title 14, CFR Part 91, as a local area personal flight.
According to the Federal Aviation Administrations (FAA) Medical
Records Center, the airplane owner did not possess a current airman's
medical certificate. The Schleicher glider was operated by the Turf
Soaring School, Peoria, under Title 14, CFR Part 91, as an
instructional/demonstration flight. The pilot of the Schleicher
glider, a commercial glider pilot and certificated flight instructor,
was seated in the rear seat, and the sole passenger was seated in the
front seat. The glider departed the Pleasant Valley Airport about
1250. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plans
were filed.

During the on-scene investigation on December 29, witnesses familiar
with both powered airplane and glider operations near the accident
airport, related to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)
investigator-in-charge (IIC) that the Piper departed runway 05L,
followed by a climbing left turn, leveling off at pattern altitude, or
about 600 feet agl (above ground level). The witnesses said that the
left turn continued until the airplane was on a southerly heading,
consistent with a left downwind approach for a landing on runway 05L.

Concurrently, the Schleicher glider was performing aerobatic maneuvers
in an area located just to the north of the Pleasant Valley Airport,
within a predetermined area known to local pilots as the "aerobatic
box," which measures 1 kilometer square, and extends from the surface
up to 6,600 feet msl.

Witnesses reported to the NTSB IIC that as the Schleicher glider was
performing a loop, the glider climbed to an altitude of about 800 feet
agl, above the path of the southbound Piper. The witnesses said that
as the Schleicher glider reached the top of the loop, the nose
lowered, eventually pointing straight down. As the glider began to
recover from the maneuver, about 600 feet agl, the left wing of the
oncoming Piper struck the tail of the Schleicher glider between the
empennage and the main fuselage, severing the empennage of the glider.
The witnesses said that during the collision, a large portion of the
left outboard wing of the Piper separated.