Hornet catches the slope with a wingtip in a ridge-soaring reversal turn
The pilot was seriously injured and the glider destroyed when its left wingtip caught a mountainside during ridge soaring. An hour into a cross-country west from Aigen im Ennstal, about 40 kilometres covered on thermals and slope lift, the pilot turned south to work the east slope of a mountain. After a short run along it the pilot turned left away from the slope to reverse and fly back north. During or after that turn the glider came too close, the left wingtip struck the slope, the fuselage followed, and it rolled inverted and broke in two behind the cockpit. Conscious throughout, the pilot phoned the tow pilot to raise the alarm.
- Ridge soaring on a westward course: An hour after an aerotow release at about 1100 m AGL, the pilot had worked some 40 kilometres west on thermals and slope lift, crossing several valleys.
- 170 hours on the type: The pilot held about 182 flying hours in total, 170 of them on the Hornet over 35 flights, and had flown three cross-countries of six to eight hours in the two weeks before.
- Turn south onto the east slope: After crossing two valleys the pilot turned left onto a southerly heading to regain height along the east slope of a mountain.
- Reversal turn away from the slope: After a short run along the slope the pilot turned left, away from the face, to reverse and fly back along it on a northerly heading.
- Too close on the way back in: During or after the reversal the glider came too close to the slope; a brief lapse of concentration, or distance and closure rate misjudged, was named as the probable factor.
- Wingtip strike and inversion: The left wingtip struck the slope, the fuselage followed, and the glider rolled inverted and broke in two behind the cockpit. The pilot was seriously injured.