Date:	Sunday 4 December 2016
Time:	13:45 LT
Type:	SZD-51-1 Junior
Owner/operator:	Coventry Gliding Club Ltd
Registration:	G-CLJK
MSN:	B-1999
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Category:	Accident
Location:	Laughton Road, Lubenham, 2 miles West of Market Harborough, Leics. -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Private
Departure airport:	Husbands Bosworth Airfield, Leicestershire (X3HU)
Destination airport:	Husbands Bosworth Airfield, Leicestershire (X3HU)
Investigating agency:	AAIB
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
The glider reportedly collided midair with a light plane and crashed. The glider pilot died. The light plane landed safely. According to contemporary press reports:

"A GLIDER pilot has died after a suspected mid-air collision with a light aircraft.

The tragic crash happened at about 12.40 pm in a field between the villages of Lubenham and Mowsley, near Market Harborough, Leics. Emergency services rushed to the scene and the road was closed in the aftermath of the fatal crash. The pilot was a member of the Gliding Centre at Husbands Bosworth Airfield.

The club said in a statement: “On December 4 at approximately 12.40 pm, a glider crashed while on a local flight". They added: “The pilot, who is a club member, has been fatally injured. The incident is currently under investigation.”

The light aircraft went on to land safely after the crash, police said. A police spokesman said: “Emergency services were called out to an area off Laughton Road in Lubenham following reports of a glider having landed in the field. Officers from Leicestershire Police and the Air Accidents Investigation Branch are conducting an investigation to establish the exact circumstances surrounding the incident. From initial enquiries carried out at the scene, officers believe the glider had been in collision with a light aircraft prior to coming down in the fields. The man on board the glider has been pronounced dead at the scene.”

An eye witness who passed the scene on foot at about 1.30 pm said the glider had appeared to have smashed apart on impact, with debris scattered in a small area of the field. He said: “It’s a two-seater plane. I could see one fatality. The cockpit is badly impacted. It has landed, but there is not much left of the cockpit. There is a lot of damage to the front of the aircraft. I am not sure if it has hit something before it crashed, because there is wood across it (the glider). The stretch of road from Lubenham to the Mowsley crossroads was closed about 1.45 pm – a lot of people were driving along and stopping and looking, which was causing problems". The anonymous eyewitness added that "the glider crashed in a livestock field, which was full of sheep."

UPDATE: The official AAIB report into the accident was published 14.9.2017, and the following is the conclusion from that report:

"The accident occurred because the pilots did not see each other’s aircraft in sufficient time to take effective avoiding action. Collision avoidance was by lookout and visual detection, which has limitations, and the low sun would have reduced the likelihood of the pilot of G-CLJK seeing G-CSFC in time.

G-CLJK was fitted with FLARM but G-CSFC was not fitted with such a system. Therefore, there was no electronic means to increase the ability to detect other aircraft in the vicinity to allow for effective collision avoidance. The CAA have since issued CAP 1391 and are part of CWG which promotes the installation of EC devices in aircraft."

Damage sustained to aircraft: Per the above AAIB report "aircraft destroyed". As a result, the registration G-CLJK was cancelled by the CAA on 6.10.2017 as "destroyed"

1. AAIB: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/59afe854e5274a180e3705d5/SZD-51-1_Junior_glider_G-CLJK_and_Cessna_150L_G-CSFC_09-17.pdf
2. BGA (British Gliding Association) Final Report: https://members.gliding.co.uk/library/investigation-reports/szd-junior-and-cessna-150-aaib-investigation-report-4th-december-2016/
3. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leicestershire-38203019
4. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leicestershire-38213828
5. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3999184/Man-killed-glider-smashed-light-aircraft-skies-Leicestershire.html
6. https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/man-killed-in-glider-crash/story-29956463-detail/story.html
7. https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/a-glider-which-crashed-into-a-field-after-a-mid-air-collision-fell-like-a-leaf/story-29958110-detail/story.html
8, http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/G-CLJK.html
9. https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2326107/pilot-dead-after-glider-crashes-into-field-in-lubenham-after-mid-air-collision-with-light-aircraft/
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lubenham

This glider was built in 1991, and initially registered in Spain as EC-FHQ. It was re-registered in the UK as G-CLJK on 15 May 2012. The registration was cancelled (and the airframe de-registered) on 6 October 2017 as "destroyed"

G-CLJK/'LJK': PZL-Bielsko SZD-51 at Husbands Bosworth, Leicestershire 9 August 2015.

ROAD CLOSURE | Laughton Road is closed, from its junction with A4304 to Bunkers Hill. Enquiries ongoing into the light aircraft collision

— LeicestershirePolice (@leicspolice) December 5, 2016

The AAIB has today deployed a team to an accident to a glider near Dartmoor and another team to a glider accident in Leicestershire.

— AAIB (@aaibgovuk) 4 December 2016

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
04-Dec-2016 17:37	gerard57	Added
04-Dec-2016 17:47	harro	Updated [Registration, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
04-Dec-2016 18:28	Alpine Flight	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Cn, Location]
05-Dec-2016 08:12	Alpine Flight	Updated [Registration, Cn, Source]
06-Dec-2016 07:54	MarkStep	Updated [Source]
10-Dec-2016 21:32	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Embed code]
10-Dec-2016 21:44	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative]
20-Dec-2016 13:04	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location]
14-Sep-2017 18:16	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Source, Narrative]
14-Sep-2017 18:26	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location]
29-Sep-2020 22:40	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative, Accident report]
03-Apr-2024 14:43	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Source, Embed code, Narrative, Category]