Accidente de un Standard Cirrus durante el regreso a la base cerca de Hildisrieden, Suiza

El 17 de mayo de 1992, un Schempp-Hirth Standard Cirrus estuvo involucrado en un accidente cerca de Hildisrieden, Suiza. El piloto, en un vuelo de entrenamiento después de una larga pausa, fue remolcado a una altitud de 1050 metros, pero creyó erróneamente que estaba a 1300 metros debido a un ajuste incorrecto del altímetro. Al encontrar térmicas débiles y mala visibilidad, el piloto intentó regresar al aeródromo. Durante un giro a baja altitud, el planeador entró en pérdida y se estrelló, resultando en daños significativos a la aeronave y heridas graves al piloto.

1. Aerotow training flight: The pilot, with very little recent flight training, departed Luzern-Beromünster on an aerotow training flight after an interruption of almost one year.
2. Altimeter mis-set: The altimeter was incorrectly set to 1040 hPa instead of the actual 1024 hPa QNH, causing it to overread by about 150 m and giving the pilot an overly optimistic impression of his height.
3. Low altitude near field: After releasing at an actual height of about 1050 m and losing height in weak thermals and poor 4 km visibility with a gusty NE wind, the pilot approached the airfield area and found himself at only about 100 m above ground unable to reach the runway directly.
4. Turn downwind at low height: Over a small wood near the hamlet of Schopfen, at about 100 m above ground, the pilot initiated a 180° reversal turn into downwind in an attempt to reposition despite the low height and gusty conditions.
5. Stall in reversal turn: During this low-altitude reversal turn the glider’s airspeed dropped below minimum flying speed, leading to a stall and loss of control.
6. Crash - serious injury: The glider impacted nose-first at the edge of a field, bounced and rotated 180° before striking tail-first in a meadow, destroying the aircraft and seriously injuring the pilot.