Ka 6 hard landing near Ersigen after encountering adverse wind conditions

On May 14, 1972, an Alexander Schleicher Ka 6 BR was involved in an incident near Ersigen, Switzerland. The pilot, participating in a competition flight, encountered challenging weather conditions, including snow showers and a thunderstorm front. During the landing approach, the pilot misjudged the wind conditions, resulting in a hard landing after attempting to avoid an obstacle. The pilot sustained minor injuries, and the glider was heavily damaged. The official report cites the failure to account for wind conditions and low-altitude maneuvers as contributing factors.

1. Cross-country task flight: During a competition cross-country flight after aerotow release, the pilot continued along the task route in deteriorating weather with snow showers and a thunderstorm front.
2. Low altitude under front: Between Fraubrunnen and Utzensdorf the pilot descended with airbrakes to get under a thunderstorm front, reducing his altitude to about 700 m AGL and limiting landing options.
3. Poor cockpit visibility: At the time of the later landing, the canopy was reportedly heavily fogged, restricting the pilot’s forward view and leaving mainly left-side visibility.
4. Downwind landing approach: For the outlanding near Ersigen, the pilot flew the final approach with a tailwind toward a 400 m grass field, which he only recognized as problematic late in the approach.
5. Change of landing area: Realizing the tailwind and insufficient stopping distance, the pilot terminated the sideslip, retracted airbrakes, and extended the approach over a raised road toward a freshly mown 400 x 30 m field in the same direction.
6. Low-altitude avoidance turn: During landing on the mown field, the pilot initiated an avoidance maneuver at low height to miss a grass mower at the far end, bringing the left wingtip into contact with tall grass beside the field.
7. Crash - minor injury: The asymmetric drag from the wingtip strike led to loss of control and a hard ground impact, lightly injuring the pilot and heavily damaging the glider, with minor third-party damage.