Colisión en el aire entre Ka 6 y Club Libelle cerca de Münster, Suiza

El 18 de julio de 1979, ocurrió una colisión en el aire entre un Ka 6 y un Club Libelle durante un campamento de vuelo a vela cerca de Münster, Suiza. El Club Libelle realizaba espirales cerradas en una fuerte ascendente cuando el Ka 6 entró en la misma área, resultando en una colisión a aproximadamente 2500 metros de altitud. El Ka 6 sufrió daños significativos y realizó un aterrizaje de emergencia en una ladera rocosa, lo que llevó a la destrucción del avión y lesiones leves al piloto. El Club Libelle, a pesar de los daños en su ala izquierda, logró aterrizar de manera segura en el aeródromo de Münster. El incidente se atribuyó a una observación insuficiente del espacio aéreo por parte de ambos pilotos.

1. Aerotow thermaling: During a soaring camp at Münster, the Ka 6 HB-650 launched by aerotow at 1112 and began thermaling in the Alps south of the Galmihornhütte.
2. Shared thermal area: Both the Ka 6 and the Club Libelle were circling in the same general lift area south of the Galmihornhütte, later moving to the strong thermal southeast of the Rossboden with about 200 m lateral separation.
3. Poor lookout: While both gliders circled in right-hand turns with different bank angles and circle sizes, the pilots lost visual contact with each other and did not adequately monitor the surrounding airspace.
4. Conflict in thermal: At about 2500 m MSL southeast of the Rossboden, the flight paths of the two gliders converged such that the Club Libelle approached the Ka 6 from behind and slightly left.
5. Ka 6 avoidance maneuver: Seeing the Club Libelle coming up from behind, the Ka 6 pilot attempted to avoid collision by pushing the nose down and turning away.
6. Mid-air contact: During the avoidance maneuver, the underside of the Club Libelle’s fuselage struck the Ka 6’s horizontal tail and then its left wing hit the Ka 6’s rudder, damaging the empennage.
7. Crash - minor injury: Feeling control stick vibrations after the collision, the Ka 6 pilot extended airbrakes and attempted an emergency landing on a rocky slope, where the glider impacted with the left wing, broke up, and slid 30–40 m down the hill, resulting in destruction of the aircraft and minor injuries to the pilot.