What happened
On November 12, 2011, a Centrair 101 glider, registration F-CGSP, departed from Saint-Gaudens for a local soaring flight alongside two other club pilots. After being towed to the Pic du Gar and releasing the tow cable at approximately 1,800 meters, the pilot began exploiting irregular thermals on the southwest face of the peak.
As the flight progressed, the pilot transitioned from the Col de l’Escalette toward the Pic du Cagire. During this transition, flying against the mean wind, the glider maintained a relatively constant altitude. Upon reaching the Pic du Cagire, the pilot turned back toward the Col de l’Escalette, flying perpendicular to the pass and positioned with the sun and wind at his back. During this maneuver, the pilot focused on visually locating another glider that was on a converging path.
While the pilot was preoccupied with visual searching, the glider's vertical speed became significantly negative. Despite an audible warning from the variometer, the pilot did not realize the loss of altitude until he spotted hikers on the col. Realizing the aircraft was too low to clear the terrain, the pilot attempted an emergency left turn toward the valley. During this steep bank, the left wingtip struck the ground, and the aircraft subsequently impacted the slope tangentially. The pilot sustained one minor injury, and the aircraft was destroyed.
The investigation
The investigation examined the flight parameters and environmental conditions at the time of the accident. At the time of the impact, the sun was positioned only 15° above the horizon, slightly to the right of the flight path. Flight parameter recordings revealed that the glider's airspeed had been decreasing shortly before the pilot's avoidance maneuver, which significantly reduced the available margin for maneuvering.
Findings
- The primary cause of the accident was an inappropriate flight path choice relative to the prevailing terrain, meteorological, and lighting conditions.
- The pilot's attention was diverted by the visual search for another aircraft, leading to a failure to notice the increasing rate of descent.
- The decreasing airspeed prior to the turn limited the pilot's ability to execute an effective recovery maneuver.