ASW 19 B loses pitch control on aerotow with its elevator control unconnected

A pilot was killed and his ASW 19 B substantially damaged when the glider left the ground at Jacksonville with the elevator control unconnected , leaving him no pitch authority. He had rigged the glider alone that morning, as he had many times before, and made no positive control check. On tow the glider climbed above the tow plane, sank, and climbed again; he called for release at about 60 m and turned left back toward the field. The glider came down in a knife-edge left turn and hit the ground left wing first. The recorded cause was his improper assembly of the elevator control together with the control check he did not make.

1. Glider rigged alone that morning: The pilot trailered the glider to the field and assembled it by himself, as he had done many times before.
2. Elevator control left unconnected: The elevator control tube was not joined to the ball joint at the base of the elevator, as the assembly procedure requires. No spring clip or other securing device was found at the connection.
3. No positive control check: The pilot made no positive control check after assembly. Such a check would have shown the elevator was not connected.
4. Pitch oscillations on tow: Soon after lift-off the glider climbed above the tow plane, descended, then climbed again. Witnesses on the ground called the takeoff erratic, and one saw no elevator authority.
5. Pilot releases at about 60 m: The pilot called for release and left the tow at about 60 m above the ground, then turned left back toward the runway.
6. Left wing first into wetland brush: The glider descended in a knife-edge left turn and hit the ground left wing first several hundred metres from the runway. The tail section separated and the pilot was killed.