What happened
On May 29, 2021, a Grob G102 Club Astir III b glider, registration OY-TFX, was involved in a fatal accident during a winch launch at Toelloese (EKTO). The flight began with an excessively steep initial climb, which caused the launch weak link to break and the winch to stop.
After the link broke, the pilot lowered the nose to regain a safe airspeed. Rather than landing straight ahead on the remaining runway as per standard procedures, the pilot turned northbound. While flying on a north-westerly course, the pilot transitioned to a downwind leg for runway 27. During this phase, the airspeed decreased. As the pilot turned from the base leg to final approach at a low altitude and low airspeed, the aircraft experienced a wing stall. This led to a steep nose-down attitude and a right-hand rotation, resulting in a spin that was unrecoverable due to the low altitude. The aircraft struck the ground at a 30-40 degree nose-down angle, and the impact destroyed the glider and caused the death of the pilot.
The investigation
The Danish Accident Investigation Board examined the wreckage, flight logs, and meteorological data. The investigation utilized high-quality video from a nearby ground-based hang glider to reconstruct the sequence of events. Investigators also reviewed the pilot's training and medical history, noting that the pilot had recently consulted an otologist regarding dizziness caused by head movements, though this had not been reported to an aero-medical examiner.
Findings
- The pilot's training and recency status were low, and the pilot was not properly licensed according to Part-SFCL recency requirements.
- The pilot may have misread or missed the altimeter setting during the pre-flight cockpit check.
- The initial climb was too steep, leading to the failure of the launch weak link.
- The pilot deviated from standard operating procedures by turning northbound instead of landing straight ahead following the aborted launch.
- An increased bank angle combined with low airspeed during the turn to final, while facing an increased tailwind, caused the right wing to stall and initiated the spin.
- The low altitude prevented the pilot from recovering from the spin.