Crash mortel d'un ASW 19 B lors d'un atterrissage en campagne près d'Espelkamp

Le 2 juillet 2001, un Alexander Schleicher ASW 19 B s'est écrasé lors d'une tentative d'atterrissage en campagne près d'Espelkamp, en Allemagne. Le pilote du planeur, participant à une compétition, a tenté de se poser dans un champ après avoir perdu de l'altitude. L'appareil a percuté le sol à grande vitesse après avoir effectué un virage serré à gauche pour éviter des lignes électriques. Le pilote a subi des blessures mortelles et le planeur a été détruit. L'enquête a relevé des problèmes avec le mécanisme de l'appuie-tête, mais ceux-ci n'ont pas été jugés menaçants pour la vie.

1. Cross-country thermaling: During a competition cross-country flight after aerotow departure from Rotenburg (Wümme), the pilot was thermaling near Espelkamp and losing height while searching for lift.
2. Late outlanding decision: Only after descending to about 100–150 m above ground south of Espelkamp did the pilot commit to an outlanding, selecting a 300 m long grass strip parallel to a road that he had overflown several times during thermalling.
3. Power line in approach: A high-voltage power line crossing the intended landing direction lay in the end-approach path of the chosen field and was not recognized or accounted for early enough.
4. Stress and gear retracted: The landing approach was flown with the landing gear still retracted, indicating the pilot was under time pressure and stress during the low-altitude field selection and approach.
5. Last-moment field change: On short final toward the grass strip, the pilot abruptly abandoned this plan, turned more than 90° left to avoid the power line, and redirected toward an adjacent field, now with a tailwind.
6. Hidden ground ridge impact: While approaching the alternate field with tailwind, the glider’s nose struck a barely visible 50 cm transverse ground ridge, causing a high-speed impact and rotation about the vertical axis.
7. Crash - fatal: The glider was destroyed in the crash near Espelkamp and the pilot sustained fatal head and spinal injuries from the impact.