ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 29330
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| Date: | Friday 6 August 2004 |
| Time: | 16:45 LT |
| Type: |  Schleicher ASK 13 |
| Owner/operator: | Booker Gliding Club Ltd |
| Registration: | BGA 3584/FWN |
| MSN: | 13285 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Wycombe Air Park, Clay Lane, Booker, near Marlow, Buckinghamshire -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Initial climb |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | Wycombe Air Park, Booker (EGTB) |
| Wycombe Air Park, Booker (EGTB) | |
| Investigating agency: | AAIB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
Schleicher ASK 13 BGA 3584/FWN was written off (damaged beyond economic repair) at Wycombe Air Park, Booker, Buckinghamshire on 06.08.2004.
The student had been given a trial gliding lesson as a gift. The instructor did not notice that the student had taken a camera and had placed it on the cockpit floor in front of his control column, between his feet. The take-off roll proceeded normally, with the student recalling that it was bumpy as the glider accelerated over the grass runway surface.
Once the glider was airborne the motion was smooth, but, as FWN started to climb above its normal position behind the tug aircraft, the instructor found that he was unable to move the control column forward when he tried to correct this. The tug pilot, meanwhile, noticed a progressive ‘heave’ on the tug aircraft just as it was leaving the ground and that the force intensified. The tail of the tug aircraft began to rise, so the tug pilot released the tow rope.
The glider was seen to climb steeply to a height of about 100 feet, whereupon it stalled, dropped its left wing and entered a turn to the left. As the glider picked up speed the wings levelled and the nose pitched up. FWN then struck the ground on its wheel in a level attitude and bounced back into the air. Again it climbed steeply, reaching a height of about 40 feet.
The glider stalled a second time, the left wing dropped again and the glider pitched nose down striking the ground in an almost vertical attitude left wing first, before settling back on the ground the right way up. The nose of the glider had been crushed and the student had suffered severe injuries to both his legs. The instructor had sustained chest and back injuries.
The results of the investigation indicated that the student’s camera had become lodged in the gap between the aft edge of the cockpit floor and the front seat control column as the glider accelerated and bounced over the runway surface during the take-off run, thus preventing forward movement of the instructor’s control column".
There was a a later follow up to the accident, in the High Court: the injured student pilot sued the Booker Gliding Club for £300,000 in damages:
"A MAN badly injured in a glider crash at Wycombe Air Park has launched a High Court claim for compensation. Daniel Marshall, 31, from Kingston, Surrey, needed surgery for two fractured legs after the crash on August 6 2004, which he claimed in a writ was caused when his camera strap entangled itself in the glider controls.
The writ issued at London's High Court, which was made public on Monday, has revealed Mr Marshall is suing the Booker Gliding Club for £300,000.
He has said the club should have prevented him from taking his camera on board the glider. The writ said Mr Marshall had a trial gliding lesson bought for him by his mother, which he took with an instructor at the air park in Clay Lane, Booker. Mr Marshall said he put his camera on the floor between his legs, but shortly after they were airborne the instructor lost control and the glider crashed nose first. The instructor suffered serious chest and back injuries in the crash.
Mr Marshall was airlifted to Wexham Park Hospital and treated that day. The writ said he required two further operations on both of his ankles, and that he is now disadvantaged in employment because of continuing problems with his legs. It also said the instructor lost control of the glider when the camera became stuck in the aperture for the front seat control column during take off.
In the writ Mr Marshall accuses the club of negligence for failing to ensure the camera was secure and failing to tell him loose objects could interfere with glider controls. The club is also accused of negligently allowing Mr Marshall to take a trial lesson when he had the camera, and exposing him to an unnecessary risk of injury.
Booker Gliding Club said it was unable to comment on the matter as it was under judicial deliberation."
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
1. AAIB: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5422f33040f0b613420003f7/ASK13_Glider__FWN_8-05.pdf
2. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/ask13.htm
3. http://www.aviationfanatic.com/ent_show.php?ent=5&AC_Regno=BGA-3584
4. https://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/33/factor200531.pdf
5. http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/676512.man_sues_air_park_after_glider_crash/
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 27-Sep-2008 01:00 | ASN archive | Added |
| 19-Dec-2014 20:52 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Date, Time, Registration, Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Country, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Damage, Narrative] |
| 19-Dec-2014 20:52 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Narrative] |
| 05-Aug-2016 12:12 | Dr.John Smith | Updated [Time, Registration, Location, Source, Narrative] |
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