Flight History
On 14 September 2022, at the Pruszcz Gdański airfield (EPPR), a glider SZD-50-3 Puchacz, registration SP-3407, was conducting training flights. The operator was Aeroklub Gdański. The flight was a training sortie for the student pilot (SPL/I-5 exercise covering low-speed flight, stalls, spin recognition and prevention). The glider was towed by an airplane and released at approximately 700 m above ground level.
Sequence of Events
After release, the instructor initiated a left spin. The student successfully recovered the glider from the first spin at 550–600 m, but the recovery was not fully satisfactory. The instructor provided feedback and entered a second left spin. He then instructed the student to recover. The student reported that the glider would not stop rotating. The instructor took control but was unable to stop the rotation. At about 300 m, the glider briefly stopped spinning, and the instructor began to recover to level flight. However, the glider entered a left spin again. At 150–200 m, the instructor realized that altitude was too low for a safe recovery and decided to deliberately impact the ground in a spin, hoping that the left wing would absorb energy and reduce the impact severity. The glider struck the ground approximately 1900 m east of the concrete runway threshold, on the northeast side of the airfield.
Injuries and Damage
Both the instructor and the student sustained serious injuries. They were transported by helicopter (LPR and Polish Navy) to a hospital. The glider was destroyed upon impact with the ground.
Investigation
The Polish State Commission on Aircraft Accident Investigation (PKBWL) investigated the accident. The commission did not assign blame or liability. The investigation focused on the factual circumstances of the loss of control in flight (LOC-I).
Probable Cause
The official report does not explicitly state a probable cause in the provided excerpts.