Accidente de LS3-17 cerca de Egerkingen resulta en la muerte del piloto
El 10 de agosto de 1980, un planeador Rolladen-Schneider LS3-17 se estrelló cerca de Egerkingen, Suiza. El piloto había despegado del aeródromo de Birrfeld y tenía la intención de completar un viaje de ida y vuelta a L'Auberson. Después de 1 hora y 28 minutos de vuelo, el planeador descendió rápidamente desde aproximadamente 100 metros sobre el suelo y se estrelló, resultando en la destrucción de la aeronave y lesiones mortales para el piloto. El informe oficial atribuye el accidente a volar por debajo de la velocidad mínima segura a baja altitud, con posibles factores contribuyentes que incluyen el comportamiento del piloto y una posible alteración física o psicológica.
- Cross-country cruise: After aerotow release from Birrfeld, the pilot conducted a cross-country soaring flight toward the Jura, progressing slowly and often struggling to gain height.
- Low, marginal soaring: In the Egerkingen area the glider was flying in weak thermals at low altitude, with the pilot having difficulty maintaining or gaining height.
- Reluctance to outland: Despite several suitable outlanding fields being available near his low-altitude track, the pilot continued the flight instead of committing to an off-field landing, possibly influenced by the lack of a trailer for retrieval.
- Continued low flight: At low height the pilot flew about 4.5 km straight ahead past Kappel and over the Egerkingen industrial area without configuring for landing and without selecting an outlanding field.
- Speed below stall: While flying straight ahead at approximately 100 m above ground, the glider’s airspeed dropped below the minimum flying speed.
- Stall and spin entry: The glider abruptly rolled left, entered a spin (vrille), and began descending rapidly with one to two turns from the low altitude.
- Crash - fatal: The pilot partially arrested the spin but, lacking sufficient height to recover fully, the glider impacted a maize field and was destroyed, fatally injuring the pilot.