Student stalls an Orlík II in a 360° turn flown to lose height on final

A student pilot stalled a VT-116 Orlík II at Nové Město nad Metují in a 360° turn flown to lose height on final, and it spun into a wheat field; the student was killed and the glider destroyed. It was the student's fifth flight on the type, the first in ten months, after training almost only on the L-13A. The student flew the circuit high and reached the threshold at about 200 m AGL with the airbrakes out. The instructor on the ground radioed for a sideslip, saw no response, then called for brakes in and a left 360°. The bank steepened through the turn until the glider spun; the student steadied it briefly, very low, then it spun again.

1. Solo circuit at a training camp: At a club training camp a student pilot flew a solo aerotow circuit in a single-seat VT-116 Orlík II, releasing at 225 to 300 m AGL into the left-hand circuit for RWY 36.
2. First flight on type in ten months: The student had about 21 hours in total, almost all on the two-seat L-13A, and on the VT 116 only three conversion flights and one seven-minute solo, flown ten months earlier.
3. Type outside the training declaration: The VT 116 was not in the club's declared training fleet; the conversion had been flown on a privately owned example, and the instructors disagreed about training students on a second type.
4. High circuit, 200 m at the threshold: The student flew the third turn early with height in hand and, on final with the airbrakes out, crossed the threshold at about 200 m AGL, far too high to land.
5. 360° turn with steepening bank: The instructor on the ground radioed for a sideslip and saw no response, then told the student to close the airbrakes and fly a left 360° to lose height. The bank kept increasing through the turn.
6. Spin, brief recovery, second spin: About 180° into the turn the glider entered a left spin. After roughly a turn and a half the student steadied it, nose about 10° down and very low; within two seconds it spun left again.
7. Spin into a wheat field: The glider struck a wheat field 315 m south-west of the threshold, steeply nose down, on a heading of about 290°. The student was killed and the glider destroyed.