The badly injured pilot had to be cut from the wreckage
The Eurofox 2K aircraft plunge plunged to the ground moments after taking off from Targarth airfield(Image: Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service)
Turbulence, crosswinds and “unstable air” likely triggered a series of events which led to a light aircraft crashing seconds after take-off, an official investigation concluded.
The 81-year-old pilot of the plane was seriously injured in the incident at Talgarth airfield in Powys in December 2025, and had to be cut from the wreckage by firefighters. Now an Air Accidents Investigation Branch study has detailed what happened on the day and the factors which lay behind the crash.
The incident happened on the morning of December 27 last year as the plane – a two-seat Aeropro Eurofox 2K – was attempting to launch a glider. Moments after becoming airborne the plane – known as the tug aircraft – was seen “rocking from side to side”.
The report says: “The tug aircraft turned approximately 60° to the left (downwind), increasing the tailwind component that it was experiencing. The main landing gear tyres touched the ground briefly, whilst the aircraft was tracking towards a line of trees.
“The aircraft became airborne again and was observed to be climbing ‘almost vertically’ as viewed from the launch point. The aircraft passed over the trees and a small hangar, the left wing dropped, and the aircraft descended rapidly into a field just outside the airfield boundary”.
Damage to the aircraft’s wings, a wire fence on the edge of the field, and ground scars in the field indicated that the aircraft initially clipped the top of the fence with its left wingtip before striking the ground in a nose down position. It then turned horizontally through 270° before coming to rest on its wheels.
The investigation notes that the pilot of the tug aircraft was an experienced glider and powered aircraft pilot who had held a licence for 45 years and had clocked up 2,249 flying hours. He had also completed more than 12,000 aero-tow operations and had been a gliding instructor since 1978 and had more than 1,300 hours instructing on gliders.
The crash report notes that Talgarth airfield is 970 ft above sea level on the western slopes of the Black Mountains and that it can be “challenging at times” due to the nature of the localised weather at the location.
The reports says the gliding club has recognised the challenges of the site and insists any pilot wanting to operate from there has read its site briefing. Additionally, a briefing is conducted by the duty instructor every morning prior to the day’s flying which includes the prevailing weather conditions and threats for the day.
Investigators found that shortly before the crash the tug aircraft had taken off without a glider to check the weather conditions and that it had experienced “severe turbulence” on its return to the runway which was “violent enough to be noticed and commented on by club members on the ground”.
The report says: “It was only a short time after this that the tug-glider combination took off towards the area in which the tug had experienced the turbulence.”
The report says: “The crosswind at ground level during the take-off could not be determined, but it is likely that as soon as the aircraft began to climb it encountered the wind that was being recorded at the weather station and that wind may have exceeded the aircraft’s crosswind limit.
“The aircraft also encountered the severe turbulence it had encountered on landing only shortly beforehand, and it is likely that the combination of the crosswind and turbulence caused the wing drop that began the accident sequence.
“The conditions for gliding were favourable that day and the focus on the goal of towing the glider for its flight might have prevented the pilot from pausing to reflect on the hazards, identified in the BGA and CAA [British Gliding Association and Civil Aviation Authority] guidance, caused by the crosswind and the turbulence.”
The report concludes: “The wind at the time of the accident was fully across the runway in use and may have been above the crosswind limit of the aircraft.
“Turbulence encountered by the aircraft during the flight immediately before the accident indicated that the air mass over the runway was unstable and is likely to have been so during the accident flight, probably causing the initial roll and subsequent loss of control.”
The report notes that after the accident the club began to instil a culture whereby pilots asked themselves: “Should we fly, rather than can we fly?” And: “What’s trying to catch me out today, what mistakes would make that more likely, and what am I going to do about it before launch?”
It added that the club has improved its weather reporting system to provide more accessible and accurate wind measurements to pilots.
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