Jantar Standard spins from a tightening low turn in weak lift beside an airfield

A Jantar Standard spun in from a tightening low turn over the D5 motorway beside Rokycany airfield as its pilot worked weak lift instead of landing; he was killed and the glider destroyed, and as it flipped inverted its left wing struck a passing car whose occupants were unhurt. On a cross-country from Plasy he lost height from Příbram onwards and diverted to Rokycany. Crossing the motorway near the runway threshold below 100 m AGL he found 0 to +1 m/s and turned twice for lift rather than landing. In the second, steeply banked turn he stalled it into a right spin. He had flown the type for 32 minutes in the previous five years.

1. Cross-country from a club camp: From a training camp at Plasy the pilot set off on a triangle via Tachov and Příbram, half an hour after a short instructional flight in an L-23.
2. Half an hour on type in five years: The pilot, an airline captain with 428 h on gliders, had 34 h on the Jantar since 2004 but only 32 minutes of it in the previous five years and none that year.
3. Losing height, diverts to Rokycany: From Příbram onwards the glider lost height; the pilot diverted 24 km to Rokycany airfield, sinking about 1 m/s after two fruitless turns in weak lift near Volduchy.
4. Narrow, rough lift over the motorway: Local pilots know the D5 motorway by the airfield for very narrow, strongly turbulent thermals on days of 28 °C or more; it was 28 °C with light variable wind.
5. Two low turns instead of landing: Crossing the motorway 100 to 500 m from the runway threshold at under 100 m AGL, the pilot met 0 to +1 m/s and turned twice to the right for lift rather than landing.
6. Tightening turn at 60 to 70 m: The first turn cost 35 m; in the second, flown steeply banked with a shrinking radius, the glider departed into a right spin at a steep angle. The log ends at 60 m AGL.
7. Spin onto the road; car struck: The right wingtip, then the nose and canopy hit road II/232 and the glider flipped inverted; its left wing struck the rear of a passing car. The pilot was killed; the four in the car were unhurt.