B1/2009L Hang glider accident in Jämsä 15 February, 2009

An air accident took place on Sunday 15 February 2009 when a Wills Wing Falcon 3 hang glider plunged onto a frozen lake at Jämsänkoski in Jämsä. The trainee pilot, who had acted as a pilot in command, died instantly. The glider was out on a training flight being towed by a car. On 16 February 2009, a decision (B1/2009L) by the Accident Investigation Board Finland (AIB) placed an investigative board in charge of the investigation of the accident. Investigator Olli Borg was named as chairperson, with investigator Kalle Brusi named as the other member.

The accident took place during the course of hang gliding instruction. The trainee pilot completed take off without problems, but soon the glider started to veer to the right. At a distance of about 250 metres from the runway, the glider lurched sharply to the right and plunged towards the ice from a height of about 50 metres. The flight was supposed to be the trainee pilot’s first solo flight at high altitude.

It was discovered through the investigation that before loss of control, the glider had deviated considerably from the tow line. The glider was otherwise suitable for training, but it had not been added to the register of gliders kept by the Finnish Aeronautical Association. The training method did not follow completely the training programme approved by the Civil Aviation Authority. The Finnish Aeronautical Association had not detected the shortcoming in its training safety inspection of the club providing the flight training.

The cause of the accident was the deviation from the tow line and the subsequent loss of control.

Contributing factors include insufficient training, use of unapproved training programme and insufficient quality control of hang-gliding training.

The investigative board recommends to the Ministry of Transport and Communications, the Civil Aviation Authority and the Finnish Aeronautical Association that systematic quality control and regular inspections be implemented on a continuous basis and that resources be allocated, so that quality control may be regularly implemented. Alternatively, it is being recommended to make public that organisations are not subjected to sufficient inspections which may increase risks. Furthermore, the board recommends to the Finnish Aeronautical Association that the definition of reasons and procedures for interruption of towing, from a hang gliding training perspective, as well as minimum requirements of general training, from a basic training perspective, be made more accurate.

The draft of the investigation report was disseminated for statement and comments on 11.12.2009. Responses received by the due date are taken into consideration in the final version of the report.

B1/2009L Report (pdf, 1.1 Mt)