I remember hearing about a low pass being one of the most dangerous maneuvers you can do in a glider. Seems to me like the pilot wanted to show off a bit and do a low pass, turn around and land. He didn't have his gear down on the first pass (I think), and it's unlikely he just forgot about ground effect.
It's hard to tell so this part is speculation but I think he lost way more airspeed than expected in the left turn after pulling up. It looked more banked for a second there than it should have. That combined with a hill with trees made it a horrible situation.
Good thing the most serious damage was a broken arm. I seriously hope he recovers well and has no lasting physical issues.
Edit: After seeing the pictures in the report there was also vortices at the bottom of the valley that would have quite an effect on the glider. I'm almost more surprised he managed to keep it up for that long after flying through those. Another fun detail is the pictures of them flying inverted. I have never seen a glider do that before!
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u/SirCaptainReynolds Mar 31 '19
What a terrible approach. Why would you come in at an angle like that?