Jantar Standard 2 strikes bushes on a narrow field strip and ground-loops in maize

Landing out on a competition task near Dobruška, the pilot of a Jantar Standard 2 was unhurt and the glider substantially damaged when its right wing struck bushes beside a narrow farm strip and it swung into maize, turning about 200°. Out of lift, the pilot chose in good time a strip of short grass that from above looked like an airfield among tall crops, and flew a normal circuit. The strip was about 17 m wide for a 15 m span, narrowed to 14 m by 4 m bushes, and sloped down in the landing direction. Landing towards the sun, the pilot lost sight of the bushes while focused on the strip ahead. The report gave the choice of field as the cause.

1. Competition task: The pilot launched at 13:30 in the Safari 2017 gliding contest organised at Dvůr Králové and set off on the declared task after the start line opened.
2. No lift near Dobruška: After about 2 hours 10 minutes the pilot could not connect with lift near Dobruška and, with height running down, decided in good time to look for a field.
3. Narrow strip chosen as the field: The pilot overflew a long strip of short grass, checked it again in further turns and judged it the best choice. It looked like an airfield, with maize or other tall crops all around.
4. Left-hand circuit to the strip: After a last attempt to climb, the pilot flew a left-hand circuit about 600 m wide over Provoz and turned final onto about 246° at 100 km/h.
5. 17 m wide, bushes, downhill: The 620 m strip was about 17 m wide for the glider's 15 m span, narrowed to about 14 m by bushes some 4 m tall, and fell 25 m towards its south-west end.
6. Landing towards the sun: The sun was slightly to the right on final. Sinking at up to 5.3 m/s to follow the falling ground, the pilot lost sight of the bushes while concentrating on the strip ahead.
7. Wing hits bushes, swing into maize: The right wing struck the bushes at about 90 km/h; the glider veered right off the strip into tall maize and turned about 200°. Fuselage, tail, wingtips, ailerons and canopy were damaged.