Corben Junior Ace, G-BSDI, 9 September 2012
Corben Junior Ace, G-BSDI
Summary:
The pilot intended making a solo flight from a private grass strip near Bath. The strip was orientated 06/24 and was 520 m long by 30 m wide. The weather was generally fine, with a surface wind from 150° at 9 kt, although this was forecast to gust up to 25 kt by about midday. Takeoff from Runway 06 was normal initially, but the aircraft was subject to a sudden gust of wind when about 65 ft above the ground, causing it to pitch up and roll left. Very soon afterwards, the left wing dropped and the aircraft rolled left to about 70° bank and rapidly lost height. The pilot was unable to correct the flight path before the aircraft hit the surface of a ploughed field in a nose-down attitude and cartwheeled. The pilot sustained only minor injuries, and attributed this to protection provided by the aircraft’s steel frame and the full harness he was wearing.
The pilot noted that his GPS navigation unit had recorded a rapid groundspeed change from 47 kt to 33 kt just prior to the accident, and believed that the aircraft had stalled after the upset, with insufficient power or height to effect a recovery.
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