During a training flight, a student of the glider club in Nistelrode suddenly had the control stick in his hand last year, which had suddenly come loose. It ended with a fizzle. The instructor was able to replace the glider’s control stick and the flight could then continue. This is evident from an interim report by the Dutch Safety Board, which was presented on Tuesday.
It all happened on June 4 last year during an instruction flight with an ASK 13. The aircraft was taking off on a winch, when the control stick spontaneously released at a height of fifty meters. Normally a special action has to be performed for this and should not be possible in the air.
“The instructor immediately put the bat back in its place. That took a few seconds and then they flew on again,” says chairman Hans Bodde of the glider club. According to him, the two glider pilots did not panic, but remained fairly calm. “There was an experienced instructor who has been flying for forty years. You don’t scare them here.”
The Lower House considers it a ‘serious incident’. That is always the case when it happens in the air. “Everything was under control, but it could have gone wrong,” says Bodde. According to him, nothing like this has ever happened at the club before. “It’s a safe sport. Of the 3,500 flights we did on our field last year, this is the only time something went wrong.”
The Dutch Safety Board is now investigating how the aircraft works and whether more aircraft could go wrong. If this proves to be the case, the manufacturer is advised to make adjustments to the device.