Federal air crash investigators say weather and a pilot’s decision making are to blame for the 2016 that killed two men.
The Stemme S10-VT glider likely encountered a downdraft — or fierce downward wind — on Aug. 24, 2016, that was too powerful for its engine to overcome, sending the aircraft into trees and eventually the ground, according to a National Transportation Safety Board final report.
Contributing to the crash, the NTSB said, was the pilot’s decision to fly near clouds and rain showers.
“Witness statements and satellite imagery indicated that building cumuliform clouds were present near the accident site,” the NTSB report released this month said. “Weather radar data depicted a rain shower over the site about the time of the accident that appeared to be dissipating. With dissipating rain shower activity, the glider was in a favorable area for the existence of downdrafts.”
A witness reported that the glider’s engine sounded strained just before the crash.
The NTSB says it found nothing mechanically wrong with the glider.
The glider’s pilot, 64-year-old Robert “Glider Bob” Saunders, and 66-year-old Ronald “Ron” Ueckert died in the crash. Saunders offered sightseeing glider tours around Telluride.
San Miguel County Sheriff Bill Masters said at the time that the crash was “a terrible tragedy and an enormous loss for the families as well as the entire Telluride community.”
