Incident ASK 23 à Masel entraîne un décès après échec du déploiement du parachute

Le 26 mai 2002, un Schleicher ASK 23 a été impliqué dans un accident mortel près de Masel, en Allemagne. Le pilote, un élève en vol d'entraînement en solo, a rencontré un profil de vol inhabituel et a tenté de déployer un parachute à environ 100 à 200 mètres du sol. Malheureusement, le parachute ne s'est pas complètement ouvert, et le pilote a été mortellement blessé à l'impact. Le planeur, volant sans contrôle, s'est immobilisé sur une propriété résidentielle, causant des dommages importants. L'enquête n'a révélé aucune défaillance technique de l'appareil.

1. Cross-country thermaling: After a winch launch for a solo 50 km training triangle, the student pilot climbed in thermals to about 1000–1100 m and departed the home airfield area.
2. Unusual high-speed descent: Near the first turnpoint, the ASK 23 left a thermal field on a north-northwesterly course at very high speed, entering a steep flight path with extreme positive and negative loads and strong wing bending.
3. Abrupt height changes: Barograph data showed abrupt 200 m height loss followed by a short level segment and then a rapid, winch-like climb, indicating severe, abnormal vertical accelerations.
4. Canopy jettisoned: At an estimated 100–200 m above ground in normal attitude and moderate speed, the pilot jettisoned the canopy using the emergency release.
5. Low-altitude bailout: The pilot exited the glider with his parachute, but due to the very low height the parachute only partially deployed before ground impact.
6. Uncontrolled glider flight: With the pilot gone and the center of gravity far aft of limits, the glider slowed, rolled into inverted attitude, and drifted uncontrolled over a residential property.
7. Crash - fatal: The pilot was fatally injured when he struck the ground with an incompletely opened parachute, and the unmanned ASK 23 came to rest inverted on a house’s winter garden and garage, sustaining severe damage.