Date:	Saturday 12 June 2010
Time:	14:15 LT
Type:	Eiri-Avion PIK-20D
Owner/operator:	Private
Registration:	OO-YEB
MSN:	20557
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Category:	Accident
Location:	Weelde Airfield (EBWE) -   Belgium
Phase:	Take off
Nature:	Private
Departure airport:	Weelde Air Base (EBWE)
Destination airport:	Weelde Air Base (EBWE)
Investigating agency:	AAIU Belgium
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
The pilot arrived after 12.00 with the sailplane in a trailer, and started to assemble the sailplane and prepare it for the flight. He proceeded with the pre-flight check.
Nobody recalls he asked for help.
He was seen pushing the sailplane towards the start position. There were a few sailplanes in front of him waiting in line for the start.
There were 13 winch starts and 2 aerotow starts performed before OO-YEB.
When OO-YEB’s turn came to take-off, the pilot decided to wait somewhat, because returning pilots reported the thermal conditions were not optimum. He sat in the cockpit, waiting, with canopy open. He intended to perform a small navigation flight.
When the pilot decided to take off, he waved to the ground team that connected the winch cable to the sailplane cable.
The wing was raised to the horizontal position by the “wing tip-runner”. The type of sailplane was radioed by the start leader to the winch man, with the request to tauten the cable. This was confirmed by the winch man.
The sailplane moved forward a few meters, due to the tautening of the cable, before the actual start.
As witnessed by the flight instructor, the initial climb occurred normally; there was no lateral drift, and no sign of abnormal speed build-up. The winch man saw the sailplane coming, and when it reached the release point, the winch man cut the power of the winch. The winch man noticed that the tow cable did not detach from the sailplane. When the sailplane came vertical above him, the
winch man activated the emergency cable cut-off. The system worked, and the cable was cut; the remaining length was 525m. Witnesses showed the sailplane in a steady dive, nose down, without any lateral movement of the sailplane.
The sailplane crashed 310m away from the winch in a very steep dive.
During the flight, the pilot noticed there was something wrong, as he un-strapped himself and tried to open the canopy. The pilot was fatally injured on impact.
Causes.
The cause of the accident is the pilot’s failure to adequately connect and secure the elevator control during assembly and failure to perform an adequate pre-flight check.

http://www.mobilit.fgov.be/data/aero/accidents/AA-10-1.pdf

https://www.kac.be/Default.aspx?RID=7&CookieTested=True
http://www.luchtzak.be/forums/viewtopic.php?t=42309&p=233907#p233907
http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/957/Belgie/article/detail/1117750/2010/06/12/Piloot-komt-om-bij-crash-met-zweefvliegtuig-in-Weelde.dhtml

http://www.asa-be.com/images/PhotoGallery_BCR2/OO-YAA/OO-YEB.jpg (photo)

Eiri PIK 20D OO-YEB at Keiheuvel Airfield (EBKH), 9 August 2009; photo (c) Harro Ranter

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
12-Jun-2010 21:48	harro	Added
13-Jun-2010 01:12	Alpine Flight	Updated [Aircraft type, Other fatalities, Narrative]
13-Jun-2010 01:36	depeje	Updated [Aircraft type, Source, Narrative]
13-Jun-2010 05:29	ASA/BCARG	Updated [Registration, Narrative]
13-Jun-2010 05:52	RobertMB	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Source, Narrative]
13-Jun-2010 08:24	harro	Updated [Registration]
20-Feb-2011 14:44	harro	Updated [Time, Operator, Source, Narrative]
03-Nov-2013 11:03	Alpine Flight	Updated [Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative]
06-Nov-2022 21:54	Ron Averes	Updated [Location, Departure airport, Destination airport]
13-Jun-2023 19:49	harro	Updated [[Location, Departure airport, Destination airport]]