Accident to the Schempp Hirth Discus 2C registered F-CTAR on 29/09/2024 at Graulhet-Montdragon
Rupture of winch cable during take-off, hard landing, during a light instruction flight
This is a courtesy translation by the BEA of the Final Report on the Safety Investigation. As accurate as the translation may be, the original text in French is the work of reference.
Note: the following information is principally based on the pilot’s statement. This information has not been independently validated by the BEA.
1. HISTORY OF THE FLIGHT
The pilot, accompanied by a passenger, lined up for a winch take-off from runway 09L of Graulhet-Montdragon aerodrome for a light instruction flight. He first indicated on the frequency, “cable north, for Duo Discus, two people on board, without ballast”, before giving the indication, “tight”. The winch operator started the cable wind. The pilot thought that the take-off run was longer than usual and that the climb was a bit sluggish. He then asked the winch operator to accelerate. The cable broke when the glider was at a height of around 70 m. The pilot decided to land straight ahead, he pushed the stick to keep the speed and then extended the airbrakes before landing. On landing a few seconds later, the glider touched down hard halfway along the runway. The main gear collapsed, and the glider slid for around 100 m before coming to rest. Damage was found on the fuselage and behind the wings, in the root area. The insertion fitting of the right wing extension was found cracked.
2. PILOT INFORMATION AND STATEMENT
The 29-year-old pilot obtained his sailplane pilot license (SPL) in 2018. He was an instructor. He had logged around 1,200 flight hours, roughly half of which as an instructor. He had totalled around 130 flight hours in the previous 12 months. He was also a class 3 microlight pilot for towing gliders and had totalled around 70 microlight flight hours.
The pilot indicated that the weather conditions were good: CAVOK, wind calm. He explained that when the cable broke, he immediately nosed down in compliance with the “cable breakage” procedure. He specified that he wanted to land short to avoid running over the end of the runway and was focused on this objective. He thought that the hard landing was perhaps due to the flare being too late or too shallow.
December 2024