What happened
During an instructional flight, a glider performed two 360-degree turns on the base leg before turning final. This maneuver was conducted because traffic had not yet cleared the runway. The aircraft was subsequently cleared to land by the tower. Upon rolling out, ground control instructed the pilot to immediately move the glider to the north side of the runway.
As the student pilot was operating the controls, the tow pilot entered the runway in front of the glider and used hand signals to motion for the glider to turn off the runway. The flight instructor began providing instructions to the student to lower the left wing to initiate a turn. However, the instructor realized the aircraft was traveling too fast to execute the turn safely without colliding with the tow plane.
The instructor took control of the aircraft and attempted an evasive right turn away from the tow pilot. This maneuver directed the glider toward the runway surface, resulting in the wing tip of the glider striking the propeller of the tow plane. The impact caused damage to the underside of the glider's wing. There were no injuries reported.
Findings
The tow pilot stated he assumed the tower would have issued the same instructions to the glider pilot that had been given to him. He also expected the glider pilot to be prepared for his hand signals. The tow pilot noted that because the glider pilot had not been briefed by the tower, the aircraft landed longer and at a higher speed than usual to accommodate the student's flight instruction requirements.
The instructor indicated that tower instructions were distracting and caused the glider to be low on final approach. He further noted that communication directed to the tow pilot rather than the glider pilot led to the tow pilot entering the runway, which necessitated the evasive maneuver that contributed to the collision.