Un pilote d'Olympia glisse à travers un harnais lâche lors d'un piqué incontrôlé

Le pilote d'un EoN Olympia 460 a été tué lorsque le planeur a piqué hors de contrôle près de Parham et l'aile gauche s'est séparée ; planeur détruit. Depuis un virage à ~900 m AGL, le planeur sensible en tangage, centrage proche de la limite arrière, a basculé au-delà de la verticale. Le pilote, léger et de petite corpulence, a glissé à travers le harnais lâche sous les charges du piqué, poussant le manche en avant ; trois tentatives de ressource ont échoué. À la troisième, vers ~150 m AGL, l'aile gauche surchargée a cédé en torsion. Aucune obstruction des commandes ; centrage dans les limites ; des essais au sol ont reproduit le glissement.

1. Cruise thermaling flight: After an aerotow launch at 1145 hrs, the pilot cruised and soared locally for about three hours in good conditions near Parham.
2. Sudden nose-down pitch: While in a gentle right turn at about 3000 feet agl, the glider abruptly pitched violently nose-down to well past the vertical.
3. Aft CG and sensitive pitch: The aircraft type was known to be sensitive in pitch, with this flight’s centre of gravity towards the aft limit, increasing susceptibility to pitch disturbances.
4. Loose harness fit: Post-accident tests showed that with the harness as found, a small pilot could slide through the loose straps in a vertical attitude, pushing the column forward and losing control.
5. Uncontrolled vertical dives: From around 2000 feet agl the glider remained near-vertical in a high-speed dive, with three brief, unsuccessful pitch-up attempts that did not achieve a sustained recovery.
6. Left wing structural failure: At an estimated 500 feet agl, during the third brief pitch-up, the left wing suffered a torsional and downward bending overload failure and separated in flight at roughly 600–800 feet.
7. Crash - fatal: The fuselage and remaining right wing continued almost vertically down and impacted dense woodland, destroying the glider and fatally injuring the pilot.