What happened
On September 1, 2019, during the Wolfsberg Airsport Days in Carinthia, Austria, an MDM-1 Fox glider was performing an aerobatic flight with a passenger on board. The flight was part of a sanctioned sporting event where spectators could purchase tickets for passenger flights.
After being released from the tow plane, the pilot initiated a left-hand spin as the first maneuver of the sequence. The pilot was unable to recover the aircraft from this spin. Recognizing the imminent danger, the pilot instructed the passenger to egress the aircraft. The pilot successfully exited the glider and deployed a parachute, landing with a minor ankle injury.
The passenger was unable to exit the aircraft in time to avoid the impact. She fell from the cockpit shortly before the glider struck the ground, hitting a concrete drainage ditch near a federal highway. The passenger sustained fatal injuries at the scene. The aircraft was destroyed upon impact.
The investigation
The Austrian Federal Safety Investigation Board (SUB) reconstructed the event using pilot testimony, eyewitness accounts, and police findings. The investigation examined the aircraft's maintenance records, the pilot's briefing procedures, and the technical characteristics of the spin maneuver.
Investigators reviewed the pre-flight preparations, noting that while the passenger was fitted with a parachute and briefed on the use of harnesses and cockpit controls, specific techniques for exiting the aircraft during an emergency—such as rolling out of the cabin—were not discussed. The investigation also analyzed the flight manual's instructions regarding spin recovery and compared the incident to a similar accident involving the same aircraft type that occurred in Germany earlier that year.
Findings
- The primary cause of the accident was an unrecoverable spin initiated during the aerobatic sequence.
- The flight manual lacked detailed instructions for recovering from a "flat spin" or a spin initiated with high dynamic energy.
- The pilot's briefing to the passenger did not include specific emergency egress techniques, such as the "belly roll" method, which could have assisted in a timely exit.
- The aircraft's behavior during high-energy or dynamic spin entries was not sufficiently addressed in the manufacturer's documentation, potentially leading to the inability to recover the flight path.