A few days ago, on the 27th of August 2024, a Grob G109B landed on the A419 road in Gloucestershire.
The Grob G109B, developed by Grob Aircraft in Germany, is a motorised glider, which sounds like it could be a contradiction in terms. The two-seater low-wing aircraft is capable of both powered and unpowered flight. The engine is used for take-off, then once the aircraft is at altitude, the engine is switched off and the propeller feathered, turning it into a glider.
Feathering the prop just means that you have rotated the propeller blades in order to reduce drag. If you imagine a paddle on a small boat, it would be like turning the paddle so its edge slices through the water. The Grob G109B has two pitch settings for powered flight: fine (referred to as t he start or climb setting) and coarse (referred to as the cruise setting). The propeller can then be feathered completely when the engine is off, leaving the propeller windmilling for gliding.
The A419 road is a dual carriageway which links the M4 and M5 motorways via Cirencester. South of Cirencester, it follows the course of the old Roman road, Ermin Way, which linked Glevum (Gloucester) and Corinium (Cirencester).
The Grob G 109B was registered in the UK as G-CHYB. The owner of the glider is a qualified pilot and instructor. He purchased the motor glider, which had been registered in Germany (D-KERJ, msn 6372), six years ago. As of the 2nd of August 2024, the engine had a total of 1,574 flight hours.
That day, there were two on board, both members of the Cotswold Gliding Club, one of the largest gliding clubs in the UK with over 150 members and 75 gliders. The owner was the pilot-in-command and in the left seat. They took off from Aston Down Aerodrome, the gliding club’s base, around 14:35 UTC (15:35 local time).
It’s not clear yet what happened but one eyewitness told the Stroud News that “..it looked like it stalled and nose dived into the main road.” Another said that it had been travelling slowly before the nose dive.
Amazingly, they did not hit any other traffic.
A photograph by Mila Vukelić taken seconds after the crash (you can still see the moving traffic in the background) shows the two occupants sitting in the glider, looking stunned. One of of the wings was completely torn off. The airfield is on the field to the right of the photograph.
The pilot and passenger were able to exit the cockpit on their own. The Great Western Air Ambulance Charity responded quickly by helicopter and assessed the pair, who were then taken to the hospital in Bristol (sadly, not in the helicopter). Both were treated for minor injuries and then released.
They had been on their way to land at Aston Down runway but crashed on the road, just a few hundred metres from the runway. There has been no comment as to whether the approach to the airfield was powered or not. In the photograph, the propeller does not appear to be feathered for gliding, although I concede it is difficult to tell with all that foliage.
The comments section in the The Daily Telegraph is a delight, as readers point out that the article had identified the glider as a jet missing a wing which had overshot the runway, making me feel quite a bit better about my fighter jet mix-up.
Meanwhile, the Daily Star ran it as their headline with the caption, “You can’t park there, mate!”
The pilot did not comment on what had happened, asking local media to wait for the AAIB report, but bristled at the comment that he was lucky.
I’m not lucky. I’d consider myself lucky if I hadn’t come down in the first place.
The AAIB have issued a statement that they have started an investigation and sent inspectors to the accident site to gather evidence.
The road was cleared and reopened within five hours of the accident, so I hope the AAIB were quick.