Accident to the Schleicher - ASH25 registered D-7502 on 16/07/2021 at Vercoiran (Drôme)

Cat. 3 investigation report: report concerning an occurrence with limited consequences, based on one or more statements not independently validated by the BEA.

This is a courtesy translation by the BEA of the Final Report on the Safety Investigation published in November 2021. As accurate as the translation may be, the original text in French is the work of reference.

Note: The following information is mainly based on the pilot's statement. This information has not been independently validated by the BEA.

1 - HISTORY OF THE FLIGHT

The pilot and a passenger took off from La Motte du Caire sailplane airfield (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence) at about 2:50 pm for a local flight. Thermal conditions were favourable for gliding to the south and west of the terrain.
At 5:30 pm, the pilot noticed a lack of lift over the Montagne de Croc[1], at an altitude of 1,500 m. He then continued northwest in the Ouvèze valley, hoping to find lift to continue his flight. Unsuccessful in this, he was forced to land near the village of Vercoiran.
The pilot landed in a vineyard. The glider touched down between and parallel to two rows of vines. During the landing run, the left wing tip hit a rock. The glider made a quarter turn to the left, came into contact with the vines and other rocks and then stopped.

2 - ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

On the day of the accident, the pilot, who had held a sailplane pilot license since January 1988, had logged 1,526 flight hours, including 57 hours and 15 minutes in the last 30 days.
He also held a LAPL(A) pilot license since August 2020.
The pilot indicated that he knew that there was a suitable landing field located close to the Montagne de Croc. However, he decided to try to find lift in the valley in the hope of continuing the flight. He believes he made a late decision to carry out an off-field landing, which forced him to choose an unidentified field that was not suitable for this.