Municipal council (✝50) crashes with glider - rescuers can do nothing more

Bad luck in the Salzburg highlands: A long-standing councilor from Seefeld in the Starnberg district crashed and died on his plane.

• In Salzburg is since Thursday for a missing glider sought.
• The glider was probably launched in Upper Bavaria and is registered in Seefeld.
• The last contact with the pilot was on Wednesday afternoon.

Update 8.15 p.m .: The news about the missing Greens municipal council Dr. spread in Hechendorf Robert Benoist (50) on Friday like wildfire, but there was still hope. Then, however, the Discus 2ct glider was found at the Weißeck in Austria. Rescue workers abseiled from the helicopter. On Friday evening, the Salzburg police confirmed that the pilot had not survived the accident .

Benoist took off on Wednesday morning from the Königsdorf glider center near Geretsried. Press spokesman Mathias Schunk (54), passionate glider pilot since 1979, was on site that morning. "We still exchanged information about the direction in which we are flying," he says in an interview with the Starnberg Mercury . Benoist had planned to head west, but would have flown east later. "It started shortly before me," recalls Schunk, who started a motor glider a little later. "I didn't see him after that."

When Benoist did not return on Wednesday evening, he was reported missing. “If you can't make it back, call and have yourself picked up,” explains Schunk about the usual procedure among glider pilots. The fact that you don't hear anything from a pilot is a cause for concern. "Everyone wants to come home."

A last signal from Benoist's aircraft with the registration D-KBLV was received in the afternoon near an area in which location was no longer possible, namely west of the Katschberg pass near Muhr in the Lungau. Benoist had been heading northwest. His trace was lost there.

Rescue teams immediately went on a search on Thursday, including three helicopters, mountain rescuers from Kleinarl, Grossarl, Wagrain and Muhr in the Lungau. They searched between Carinthia and the Salzburg region, which is why rescue workers from both federal states were also deployed. "Due to poor visibility and a lot of fresh snow, the search mission was canceled at 8 p.m. today and continued tomorrow on Friday," wrote the mountain rescue team Tamsweg on Thursday evening on their Facebook page. "We also offered to help," says Schunk on Friday morning. However, the weather conditions were so bad that the pilots could not have started from Königsdorf.

Benoist was considered an experienced pilot. "He took a break from time to time, but has been active again for several years now," says Schunk. The Hechendorfer left very regularly from Königsdorf. The glider pilot is reportedly owned by the Bavarian Aviation Association Munich, in which Benoist is a member. Around 350 pilots from a total of six clubs use the site of the gliding center in Königsdorf. "You know each other," says Schunk. The conditions were good on Wednesday, he himself had meanwhile flown at a height of 4000 meters.

Early Friday evening, the police in Salzburg confirmed that rescuers had discovered an aircraft at an altitude of around 2200 meters on Weißeck in the Lungau in difficult-to-walk areas. A rescue team was roped down, but any help came too late for the pilot. The family was informed. The cause of the accident was still unclear on Friday.

Dr. Robert Benoist was well known in the Seefeld community. He leaves behind his wife, three children and five stepchildren. The entrepreneur has been involved with the Greens since 1990, founded the Seefeld branch in 2005 and, with a brief interruption, was also a member of the local council since 2007.

by Hanna von Prittwitz

Glider near Salzburg disappeared: Pilot probably started in Upper Bavaria - snow hinders search

Update from May 29, 3:45 p.m .: The rescuers were apparently successful in finding the missing glider pilot: According to information from our editorial team, the plane was discovered on Friday at 2,200 meters above sea level near Zederhaus near the Katschberg tunnel in the south of the Austrian state of Salzburg . At first nothing was known about the condition of the pilot. 

First announcement : Herrsching / Salzburg - According to initial information, the man took off on Wednesday morning with his glider at an airfield in Herrsching am Ammersee in the district of Starnberg. The ORF reports. But there is no airfield there. Initial research by Starnberg Mercury has shown that the glider is approved for use by a person from Seefeld. It is not yet known whether she was on the plane.

Glider near Salzburg disappeared: last position known

The ORF continued to be able to make contact with the pilot in the early afternoon of Wednesday. His position at that time was as follows: west of the Katschberg pass near Muhr in the Lungau. He was on his way to the northwest.

Mountain rescuers look for missing glider near Salzburg

After that, contact was no longer possible. Rescue teams immediately set off and started looking for the glider. There were several helicopters and mountain rescuers from Kleinarl, Grossarl, Wagrain and Muhr in the Lungau.

Fresh snow: poor visibility hinders search for glider near Salzburg

However, around 9 p.m. on Thursday, the search was stopped. As the mountain rescue Tamsweg reports on Facebook, the view has become too bad. There was also a lot of fresh snow. A trace of the glider is missing so far.

The further search should now be decided on Friday.

Glider disappeared: accidents happen again and again 

Again and again there are serious accidents on small airplane tours in the leisure sector. A glider crashed near Ohlstadt (Garmisch-Partenkirchen district) last year. Two people were on board. The same thing happened in 2019 at Spitzingsee. A glider tour ended fatally for a 29-year-old. It crashed in the Ammergau Alps.