Fatal Mt Tauhara glider crash near Taupō: Transport Accident Investigation Commission releases report

Mount Tauhara overlooks the Taupō township.

A gliding accident on Mount Tauhara near Taupō that killed two people in 2020 likely happened while the instructor tried to get out of a dangerous situation, an investigation has found.

The Transport Accident Investigation Commission has released its report into the crash that killed a Taupō Gliding Club instructor and a student, and found the club had limited systems in place to verify pilots had appropriate competency to soar in the area.

It also found the club’s procedures for training and maintaining the ongoing competency of instructors did not line up with Gliding New Zealand’s manual of approved procedures.

On May 31, 2020, the instructor and student were doing a trial flight. Trial flights are about 20 to 30 minutes long and are intended to give students the an opportunity to handle the controls in order to get used to flying a glider.

It was the second flight of the day with the same instructor, who flew a similar trial with another short-term club member.

The instructor restarted training as a trainee glider pilot in 2014, after previously learning in England in 1975. They started training as an instructor towards the end of 2015. By March 2019, they had a “B” category instructor rating.

On that fatal day, the instructor flew over the Mount Tauhara walking track near the southeastern face of the mountain, where people walking the track saw the glider.

They saw it fly past the trig station, around the same height as the station, but on the downward side with the left wing down, the report stated.

The witnesses saw and heard the left wing hit scrub before it went out of sight and they heard sounds from the impact, which killed both people around 2.30pm.

The likely path the glider took immediately before crashing on Mount Tauhara in 2020. Source / Transport Accident Investigation Commission report

The report stated that ridge soaring had “inherent risks” such as turbulent winds, unpredictable updrafts and terrain.

It said pilots needed to be competent in managing these risks.

It said trial flights should be done without introducing unnecessary risks.

Transport Accident Investigation Commission recommendations

The commission made two safety recommendations; one to Taupō Gliding Club and one to Gliding New Zealand.

Taupō Gliding Club is to develop a system to ensure local instructors can verify pilots have appropriate levels of competency to ridge-soar on Mount Tauhara and safely conduct training flights on the ridge.

Gliding New Zealand is to review how gliding club instructors are trained and clubs are audited. Corrective action should then happen to ensure all new instructors are consistently trained to the standards set out in the manual of approved procedures.