What happened
On July 22, 2003, at approximately 15:40 local time, a SCHEMPP-HIRTH VENTUS 2CM powered glider, registration OY-NXS, crashed into a wooded hillside in the municipal district of Ortigosa del Monte, Segovia. The aircraft had departed from the Fuentemilanos aerodrome at 15:25 local time, intending to fly toward Riaza. The flight was conducted under private operations using the aircraft's onboard engine.
Following a period of silence after the aircraft failed to respond to radio calls from the departure aerodrome, a search was initiated. The wreckage was located on July 24, 2003, on a hillside approximately 5 km east of Otero de Herreros. The impact occurred on a slope between 15 and 30 degrees, with the aircraft's trajectory leaving a trail of debris approximately 60 meters long. The impact resulted in one fatality (the pilot) and the total destruction of the aircraft.
The investigation
The investigation utilized data from a Cambridge Secure Flightlogger 302 recovered from the wreckage. Although the device was damaged, investigators were able to extract GPS coordinates, altitude, groundspeed, and engine operation data.
Analysis of the flight data revealed that the engine stopped moments before the accident, coinciding with a left-hand turn. During this period, the aircraft's groundspeed dropped below stalling speed, and the vertical descent rate increased sharply to 6.4 meters per second. The investigation also examined the engine retraction procedure, which involves stopping the engine, positioning the propeller vertically, and retracting the entire unit into the fuselage—a process that significantly increases aerodynamic drag.
Findings
- The pilot was performing the complex maneuver of stopping and retracting the engine while simultaneously executing a left turn.
- The process of engine retraction caused a significant increase in aerodynamic resistance, leading to a rapid loss of airspeed.
- The pilot's experience on this specific aircraft type was limited to approximately 10 hours.
- The aircraft entered a stall because the pilot was preoccupied with the engine retraction procedure and did not realize the airspeed had fallen below the critical threshold.
- The aircraft was at a very low altitude during the maneuver, leaving insufficient margin to recover from the stall before impacting the terrain.