Atterrissage en campagne et impact d'aile d'un Ka 7 près de Schleitheim, Suisse

Le 5 août 1973, un Ka 7 a effectué un atterrissage en campagne près de Schleitheim, Suisse. Le planeur, piloté par un aviateur expérimenté avec un passager à bord, a rencontré des difficultés après avoir échoué à gagner suffisamment d'altitude. Le pilote a tenté un atterrissage en campagne sur un champ, mais lors d'un virage à basse altitude, l'extrémité de l'aile gauche a touché le sol. L'appareil a été gravement endommagé, le pilote a subi des blessures légères et le passager est resté indemne.

1. Aerotow cross-country: The Ka-7 launched by aerotow from Schaffhausen-Neunkirch for a cross-country flight toward the Randen area with a passenger on board.
2. Lee-induced height loss: During the flight in the Randen area the pilot failed to recognize lee effects in time, leading to a substantial and unplanned loss of altitude.
3. Ineffective soaring tactics: For more than an hour the pilot used unsuitable flight tactics and, despite prolonged searching, was unable to find usable lift, leaving the glider at low height and unable to return to the departure airfield.
4. Late outlanding decision: The pilot delayed the decision to perform an outlanding until the glider had been flying for around ten minutes at very low height above ground, then chose a field on the Rüetisberg as the landing site.
5. Steep low-altitude turn: To land into wind, as also suggested by the passenger, the pilot attempted a steep landing turn at minimal height toward the selected field.
6. Wingtip strikes ground: During the steep low-altitude turn the left wingtip struck the ground—either due to underspeed or misjudged height—causing the glider to yaw sharply left.
7. Crash - minor injury: The glider came to rest heavily damaged about 90 meters short of the intended landing field at the edge of a barley field, the pilot was slightly injured and the passenger unhurt.