This report is to promote aviation safety and not to establish legal liability.
The CAA's report contains padding, repetition, poor English and incompetence. In the interest of clarity and readability I have corrected and paraphrased extensively.
Aircraft: powered glider Pipistrel D.O.O Taurus
Date of Accident: 10 August 2012
Time of Accident: 11:06Z
Registration: ZU-GAN Pilot-in-command Licence Type: Glider / PPL Age: 55
Licence Valid: Yes
Pilot-in-command Flying Experience: Total Flying
80.2 Hours on Type 80.2 Hours
Last point of departure: El Mirador (FALQ)
Next point of intended landing: El Mirador (FALQ)
Location of the accident: Game reserve in Winterton.
Meteorological Information: CAVOK wind 350/04
Number of people on board: 1 + 0
Number of people injured: 0
Number of people killed: 1
SYNOPSIS
History of Flight
Three witnesses all made substantially the same statements. They saw the wings of the aircraft flexing and oscillating up and down along the entire span and it was also longitudinally unstable. They also noticed the wheel bay doors opening and closing in time with the pitching oscillations.
The chute was deployed but failed to blossom and appeared to suffer shroud line failure. The resultant drag appeared to pitch the aircraft's nose up; it dropped its right wing and dived vertically into the ground.
The engine, airframe and propeller had done only 15 hours since new.
The pilot was fatally injured. The post mortem found multiple rib fractures, lacerations of the heart, fracture of the spine at three places, crushed cauda equine at lumbar spine No.2. Cause of death was a blunt trauma to the chest.
This story is from the June 2022 edition of SA Flyer Magazine.
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This story is from the June 2022 edition of SA Flyer Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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