What happened
On July 10, 2021, at approximately 18:24 UTC, an Alexander Schleicher Ka 6 CR glider was conducting a cross-country flight from Unterwössen, Germany, across the Austrian Alps. After a flight lasting nearly nine hours and covering 388 km, the pilot found that thermal activity had significantly weakened due to the late hour of the day. Having reached a maximum altitude of 3,250 meters MSL earlier in the flight, the pilot was unable to maintain sufficient altitude to clear the valley terrain as the lift dissipated near 1,300 meters MSL.
With the loss of thermals making it impossible to continue the flight path, the pilot initiated an emergency descent to perform an outlanding in the municipality of Lofer. The pilot executed a series of maneuvers, including circling in the Loferer Hochtal to bleed off altitude, before setting up a final approach toward a mown meadow.
During the landing, the pilot approached the field at approximately 110 km/t with spoilers deployed. Upon touchdown, the nose of the aircraft struck the ground with enough force to cause the cockpit to completely detach from the rest of the fuselage. The aircraft then rotated around its vertical axis and came to rest approximately 20 meters from the initial impact point. The pilot sustained serious injuries, and the aircraft was a total loss.
The investigation
The Austrian Federal Safety Investigation Board (SUB) reconstructed the flight sequence using witness statements, passenger accounts, and FLARM data. The investigation examined the aircraft's structural integrity, the pilot's flight maneuvers, and the meteorological conditions at the time of the accident. The investigation also reviewed the aircraft's maintenance history and the pilot's flight experience.