Accident to the Schleicher ASK13 registered F-CEAV on 08/03/2024 at Claviers

In the scope of a glider course, the instructor and student pilot had planned a slope soaring flight on the south-east side of the Camp de Canjuers plateau. The instructor felt under a certain amount of pressure to carry out the flight as it was the last day of this session of the course and there was only a very small window before the arrival of adverse weather conditions for gliding. Furthermore, despite his vast experience in mountain flying and out of Fayence, he indicated that he had never encountered strong east wind conditions which were rare in the region.

In the morning briefing, the chief pilot had insisted that if the glider reached 1,000 m in descent, the pilots had to return to the aerodrome and were not to cross Saint Arnoux pass. Given the particular meteorological conditions, the chief pilot had decided to approach each pilot before they took off to insist on the safety instructions with each instructor. However, he did not have time to talk to the instructor of F-CEAV.

The uplifts encountered at the beginning of the slope soaring flight were not very good. The instructor then asked the student pilot who had the controls, to change sector to look for better aerological conditions towards the west. The instructor was not aware that the expected conditions in this sector were unfavourable in the presence of strong easterly winds and that he was leaving the Fayence local area. He took back the controls. As there was no field listed in this sector for an off-field landing, the instructor searched for and found a clear site which he believed to be suitable and started an off-field landing. The glider struck a power line during the last turn at low height.