The preliminary investigation into a fatal glider crash last month has found no indication that anything was amiss before the plane nosedived into a field near Kilkenny airstrip on August 7th.
Martin Mulhall (78), the businessman who died in the crash, made an upbeat phone call to his home shortly before the glider came down, according to the report from the Air Accident Investigation Unit. The weather in Kilkenny was good, with unrestricted visibility and little cloud, although some pilots reported strong thermal activity near the airfield.
Mr Mulhall, who was very experienced in flying both gliders and powered aircraft, had earlier that afternoon flown the club's glider-towing airplane. He then arranged to fly a single-seater glider which had recently been issued with a temporary certificate of airworthiness.
The glider was released at 2,000ft and was approaching the airfield boundary when, according to two witnesses, it "adopted a sudden nose-down attitude" and hit the ground.
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