A transient pilot began taxiing to bta runway 13 and was surprised by a near miss with a glider towi...

Attributes
ACN	1123626
Time
Date	201310
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	BTA.Airport
State Reference	NE
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Amateur/Home Built/Experimental
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	None
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	PA-25 Pawnee
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Takeoff
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Private
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 20 Flight Crew Total 2835 Flight Crew Type 150
Events
Anomaly	Conflict Ground Conflict Critical Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Miss Distance	Horizontal 100 Vertical 100

Narrative:

Had my aircraft started; warmed up and had heard piper pawnee on CTAF stating he was taking off on runway 13 at bta. What I did not realize was that he said; 'runway 13 gliderport' at bta. I started to taxi to the parallel taxiway for runway 13 and as I passed the southern most hangar on the north side of the ramp the pawnee and glider passed in front of me and above me at approximately 100 ft AGL. I was surprised to say the least. The 'gliderport' appears to be on extension of the parallel taxiway. It is dirt; it extends to the north of parallel taxiway of 13/31. I had no idea the glider did not use the same runway as powered aircraft. The a/FD mentions glider operations in passing. The drawing of the airport does not indicate a separate runway for glider operations. Being a transient pilot I was not aware of the 'gliderport'. However having a glider and tow plane taking off over the ramp area at low altitude and airspeed does not seem to me to be very safe.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Transient pilot began taxiing to BTA Runway 13 and was surprised by a near miss with a glider towing PA-25 as it took off from a grass strip adjacent to the north end of the parallel taxiway.

Narrative: Had my aircraft started; warmed up and had heard Piper Pawnee on CTAF stating he was taking off on Runway 13 at BTA. What I did not realize was that he said; 'Runway 13 gliderport' at BTA. I started to taxi to the parallel taxiway for Runway 13 and as I passed the southern most hangar on the north side of the ramp the Pawnee and glider passed in front of me and above me at approximately 100 FT AGL. I was surprised to say the least. The 'gliderport' appears to be on extension of the parallel taxiway. It is dirt; it extends to the north of parallel taxiway of 13/31. I had no idea the glider did not use the same runway as powered aircraft. The A/FD mentions glider operations in passing. The drawing of the airport does not indicate a separate runway for glider operations. Being a transient pilot I was not aware of the 'gliderport'. However having a glider and tow plane taking off over the ramp area at low altitude and airspeed does not seem to me to be very safe.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

A transient pilot began taxiing to bta runway 13 and was surprised by a near miss with a glider towing PA-25 as it took off from a grass strip adjacent to the north end of the parallel taxiway.