Lands Safely Under Canopy

A glider pilot taking part in 2023’s World Glider Aerobatics Championships in Toru, Poland, bailed out of his imperiled aircraft and landed safely under canopy on Friday, 04 August 2023.

Little is known of the incident, which occurred shortly before 19:00 Central European Summer Time (Zulu +2), excepting that it occurred whilst another nearby glider was being towed aloft by a powered aircraft. Online reports indicate the glider’s pilot, an Italian citizen, noticed a problem with controlling the aircraft after the towplane's cable somehow entangled with his aircraft while he was in the aerobatic box... where the towplane should not have been. He elected to make an unscheduled, high-stakes egress from his aircraft at an altitude of approximately one-thousand-feet AGL.

Emergency responders arrived on scene to find the glider’s wreckage on the airport apron and the pilot already in the event ambulance being precautionarily evaluated by a medical team.

Andrzej Bartosiewicz, deputy chairman of Poland’s State Aircraft Accident Investigation Commission, confirmed an accident had occurred and clarified the pilot had, indeed, landed by parachute.

Formally billed the 25th FAI World Glider Aerobatic Championship / 13th FIA World Advanced Glider Aerobatic Championship, the event was organized by Aero Club Pomorski, a member-group of the Aero Club of Poland, and held at the Torun airport (EPTO/ICAO). Competitors are required to hold a valid Glider Pilot License with an aerobatic extension issued by the individual’s home country, a valid FAI Sporting License, a valid medical certificate, and valid liability insurance—the latter for reasons at once immediately and abundantly clear.

The competition was won by Poland’s Maciej Pospieszynski, who was followed up by France’s Charly Levy Louapre and Germany’s Michael Spitzer in second- and third-places respectively. All three competitors flew Swift S-1 single-seat aerobatic gliders.

An aircraft manufactured by Poland’s Swift Ltd., the S-1 is among the world’s preeminent aerobatic gliders. The machine’s fiberglass-epoxy airframe is stressed to endure +10 and -10 Gs, and its retractable undercarriage imparts considerable aerodynamic advantage. Superbly maneuverable (for a glider), the S-1—notwithstanding the 14:3 aspect ratio of its wings—is capable of executing a full roll in less than four-seconds.

FMI: https://civa-results.com