ASW 24B s'écrase dans une forêt près d'Oerlinghausen lors de l'approche

Le 27 avril 2000, un Alexander Schleicher ASW 24B s'est écrasé dans une forêt près d'Oerlinghausen lors de son approche pour atterrir. Le planeur revenait d'un vol thermique local lorsqu'il a rencontré de forts vents arrière et une faible altitude. Le pilote a tenté un virage serré à droite à faible vitesse, provoquant un décrochage et la descente dans les arbres. L'appareil a été détruit et le pilote a subi des blessures mortelles. Aucun dommage à des tiers n'a été signalé.

1. Winch launch thermaling: The pilot conducted a winch launch at 16:20 for a local thermic flight and later returned toward Oerlinghausen airfield to land.
2. Gusty crosswind present: During the approach the airfield had a gusty 12–22 kt crosswind from 90° to the landing direction of 40°, creating challenging wind conditions.
3. Wind misjudged: While planning the landing pattern the pilot misjudged the wind conditions at the airfield, not adequately accounting for the tailwind component on the downwind leg.
4. Low, tailwind downwind leg: At about 90 m height the pilot flew a shortened downwind/ base leg under tailwind conditions, allowing the glider to drift southwest over adjacent woodland.
5. Slow, steep right turn: In low height over the forest the pilot flew at conspicuously low airspeed and attempted a steep right turn toward final approach.
6. Stall and loss of control: During the steep turn the glider’s stall speed was exceeded, it rolled off to the side into an over‑stalled condition, and the low altitude left no room for recovery.
7. Crash - fatal: The glider descended into the trees about 400 m before the runway and 200 m before the airfield boundary, was destroyed, and the pilot later died from his injuries.