On September 20, 1996, at 1545 hours Pacific daylight time, an Aero Commander 690, N840DC, collided with a Grob 102 glider, N22ZB, while climbing through 10,000 feet msl in the vicinity of Truckee, California. Both aircraft sustained substantial damage and neither pilot was injured. The Aero Commander was being operated by Dempsey Construction Corporation of Ketchum, Idaho, as a business flight. The Grob 102 was operated by Soar Truckee and rented by the pilot for a local area personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time. The Aero Commander pilot announced his departure on runway 28 while taxiing on the unicom frequency of 122.8 Mhz at the Truckee Airport. After departing the pilot turned left and was heading southeast in a climb. The glider departed the Truckee Airport about 1 hour earlier via aero tow and was orbiting left in a thermal in the vicinity of Lookout Mountain about 4 miles south of the Truckee Airport. The glider pilot was monitoring the frequency 123.3 Mhz, an air-to-air frequency used by glider pilots. Moments before the collision, the Aero Commander pilot was tuning a navigation radio. He looked up and saw the glider in his windshield, but was unable to avoid the collision. The glider pilot never saw the Aero Commander. The left wing of the Aero Commander struck the left wing and fuselage of the glider about 9,800 feet msl. Both pilots were able to safely land their airplanes at the Truckee Airport after the collision.