For hours there was hope and trepidation for the members of the Nötscher Flugsportverein, now the search for a missing pilot has come to a sad end: the 59-year-old man from Klagenfurt was found dead in the early morning hours on Thursday. The rescuers also found the wreckage of the glider.
“One of our experienced pilots did not come home,” said club president Bernhard Probst. The man from Klagenfurt did not show up on Wednesday evening – so the alarm was raised and the emergency services were notified. They assumed a crash in the Mölltal – and these fears were confirmed on Thursday morning: the pilot was found dead, all help came too late for him.
wreck has been salvaged
The rescuers were able to locate the powerful Schempp-Hirth glider the man was traveling with from Klagenfurt – it is the Ventus model with registration number OE-5721 – in a ditch. However, the accident site is about 2400 meters above sea level in impassable and difficult to access terrain – therefore the rescue is difficult. The cause of the accident is not yet known – there is great bewilderment at the club…
Mobile phone tracking successful, search negative
Since Wednesday afternoon – exactly 4.20 pm – there has been no contact with the missing pilot. At that point, the man from Klagenfurt left Nötsch airport in the direction of the Reißeckgruppe – when he was still gone at 8 p.m. and no contact could be made, an emergency call was made and the search was launched. A mobile phone location was partly successful: it resulted in a location in the vicinity of Nötsch Airport within a radius of 1400 meters. However, the police found nothing in this area on Wednesday…
Search with thermal imager and night vision
Contact with the 59-year-old’s machine probably broke off in the Reißeck area – or so Austro Control suspects based on the FLARM warning system. According to Austro Control, an interruption of the signal is not unusual in such high mountains. The FLIR police helicopter was also searching for the missing person in this area – an emergency call frequency from the crash sensor could be heard, but the pilot was not found despite the thermal imager and night vision goggles.
Due to high winds and cold, the search flight with the police helicopter had to be canceled at 10:27 PM. Shortly before midnight, two members of the Kolbnitz Mountain Rescue Service went to the said area to search for the glider – unfortunately in vain. The search continued in daylight on Thursday.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
