The misconduct of a gliding instructor (57), which led to the crash of a towing machine and the death of a 43-year-old in Nikolsdorf in East Tyrol, just about 40 seconds after take-off in June of the previous year, had legal consequences in Innsbruck on Friday.
The defendant, who pleaded “not guilty” but admitted with a bowed head that he had not done everything correctly, probably had not properly locked the cockpit canopy, causing it to open during the flight. “You also ignored the principle of ‘pilot the plane first,’” the prosecutor accused him. The man should have concentrated entirely on flying the glider, even when the cockpit canopy opened. The consequences of his apparent failure to do so were fatal: the tow plane to which the glider was connected with a rope crashed due to the actions of the 57-year-old and the pilot of this plane was killed.
Final judgment not yet
“The actions were grossly negligent,” judge Helga Moser said and imposed a six-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of 6,000 euros. He narrowly missed out on an unconditional prison sentence. “You lost a good friend in the accident, that is actually punishment enough,” said the judge. The verdict is not yet legally binding.
Source: Krone
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