Colisión en el aire entre Discus B y ASW 27 cerca de Bayreuth durante el Bavaria Glide 1998

El 18 de agosto de 1998, ocurrió una colisión en el aire cerca de Bayreuth durante la competencia Bavaria Glide 1998 que involucró a un Schempp-Hirth Discus B y un Schleicher ASW 27. El Discus B entró en un estado de vuelo incontrolado tras la colisión y se estrelló, resultando en lesiones fatales para el piloto. El ASW 27 sufrió daños significativos pero pudo aterrizar de manera segura, con el piloto sufriendo solo lesiones leves. La investigación señaló que ambas aeronaves estaban equipadas con registradores GPS, pero los datos del Discus B se perdieron debido a los daños del impacto. Las condiciones meteorológicas eran favorables y no se encontraron fallas técnicas en los planeadores.

1. Competition thermaling: During the Bavaria Glide 1998 competition, the Discus b was circling in a thermal among a gaggle of about 10–15 gliders, all flying left-hand circles in an updraft.
2. Dense gaggle traffic: The Discus b and ASW-27 were part of the upper third of a dense thermal gaggle, with multiple gliders circling on similar tracks at about 1,000 m above ground.
3. Discus enters ASW-27 path: The Discus b flew through the center of the ASW-27’s circling pattern and then turned left into the same circle, with its path offset by about 150° relative to the ASW-27.
4. Mid-air wing collision: The left wing of the Discus b struck the cockpit/forward fuselage area of the ASW-27, causing immediate structural damage to the Discus b’s left outer wing.
5. Wing failure and spiral: Immediately after the contact, the left outer wing of the Discus b folded upward, separated from the aircraft, and the glider entered a spiral-dive-like uncontrolled attitude.
6. No successful bailout: Although altitude would have allowed a bailout in principle, the Discus b pilot did not successfully abandon the aircraft, possibly impeded by the high rotational forces and a missing or hard-to-find canopy jettison knob.
7. Crash - fatal: The Discus b impacted a grassy, slightly southward-sloping hillside at a near-vertical attitude, destroying the glider and fatally injuring the pilot, while the ASW-27, though heavily damaged, landed safely with its pilot only lightly injured.