Jantar stalls in steep winch climb at 40-50 m

The pilot of a PZL Bielsko Jantar was fatally injured when the glider stalled at 40-50 m AGL on a steep initial winch climb; aircraft destroyed. Immediately after lift-off the glider entered an uncorrected pitch-up. Airspeed decayed below stall speed; the glider rolled off over the left wing, rotated about both axes, and impacted nose-first in slight inverted attitude about 100 m from the launch point. No technical defects were found. A pre-existing medical condition that met exclusion criteria had been cleared; whether reduced reaction capacity contributed could not be determined.

1. Winch launch climb: During a winch launch for a planned thermalling flight, the glider climbed after liftoff from runway direction 200° at Jena-Schöngleina.
2. Excessive pitch-up: Immediately after becoming airborne, the glider was flown into a climb with an excessively high angle of attack, resulting in an overly steep climb attitude.
3. Low launch height: The developing abnormal attitude and speed occurred at a low winch launch height of about 40–50 m, leaving little altitude margin for recovery.
4. No correction made: The pilot did not correct the excessive pitch and high angle of attack during the initial winch climb.
5. Stall and wing drop: As the airspeed decreased below stall speed in the steep climb, the glider stalled and rolled off over the left wing, entering further rotation about both pitch and roll axes.
6. Crash - fatal: From about 40-50 m height the glider struck the ground almost vertically, slightly inverted, about 100 m from the launch point; the pilot was fatally injured and the aircraft destroyed.