Diamant 18 collision with cable near Bludenz results in fatality
On July 8, 1968, a Glasflügel Diamant 18 collided with a cable in the Rungelinerwald near Bludenz, Austria. The pilot was conducting a 600 km cross-country flight when the incident occurred. While searching for lift, the aircraft struck a cable from a local agricultural installation, leading to a crash in a wooded area. The pilot sustained severe injuries and succumbed to them before reaching medical assistance. The aircraft was significantly damaged in the crash.
- Cross-country cruise: The experienced pilot departed Altenrhein at 08:00 on a 600 km cross-country flight in a Diamant 18 glider and cruised toward the Bludenz area searching for usable lift.
- Weak early thermals: Around 10:00 near Bludenz the thermals were still weak and only beginning to develop, forcing the pilot to fly low and close to the sun-heated Rungeliner forest slopes while searching for lift.
- Unmarked cable hazard: An agricultural Rungelin–Furkla cableway with a 5.5 mm support cable, charted but unmarked and visually hard to detect from the air above the forested slope, crossed the area where the pilot was thermaling.
- Collision with cable: While turning left in about 40–45° bank near the slope to exploit weak lift, the glider unexpectedly struck the thin support cable of the agricultural cableway at roughly 80–90 km/h.
- Loss of control descent: After the cable strike, the glider’s attitude became unstable, with the nose pitching up briefly then twice dropping through before the aircraft rolled toward the mountain and entered a near-vertical descent into the forest.
- Crash - fatal: The glider impacted the steep, wooded slope almost vertically, severely destroying the forward fuselage and fatally injuring the pilot despite wearing an unused parachute.