What happened
On Saturday, July 18, 1998, at 17:04, a Rolladen-Schneider LS 8 A glider, registered F-CGZS, crashed in a field near Le Gué-de-Longroi. The pilot was performing a circuit flight when, approximately 5 km from the destination aerodrome at Bailleau-Armenonville, announced an intention to perform a field landing. Shortly after this announcement, a witness observed the aircraft strike the ground. The impact occurred in a field oriented roughly at 240°, which contained a harvested section approximately 600 meters in length.
The investigation
The investigation focused on the flight path and the circumstances leading to the impact. Although the aircraft was equipped with a GPS, the data extraction was unable to provide precise altitude verification; however, the positional data was found to be consistent and allowed investigators to reconstruct the aircraft's trajectory. Meteorological observations from the Chartres station at 17:00 indicated a wind from 260° at 10 to 17 knots, visibility of 20 km, and various cloud layers (cumulus at 4,000 feet and cirrus at 23,000 feet). While convection was estimated at average vertical speeds of 1.5 m/s, the presence of cirrus and wind was expected to limit significant convective activity.
Findings
The investigation concluded that the late decision to land led the pilot to attempt a field landing under unfavorable conditions. The crash resulted in one fatality and the total destruction of the aircraft.