An unusual incident led to a temporary closure of the Southern Motorway (A2) in Carinthia on Saturday afternoon. Around 15:40 p.m., a Scheibe SF 25 C Falke motor glider, often simply referred to as a glider, was forced to make an emergency landing while traveling towards Italy. The event occurred in the municipality of Stossau, near the Arnoldstein exit and just before the Italian border. The aircraft, which had taken off from Klagenfurt Airport for a sightseeing flight to Matrei, was presumably forced to land due to a technical problem – likely engine failure.
The 62-year-old Austrian pilot and his 59-year-old passenger were unharmed during the landing, which was safely accomplished on the hard shoulder. Fortunately, there was no personal injury or property damage, even though the busy motorway was in operation at the time of the incident. ÖAMTC traffic expert Marc Römer described the situation as "unusual" and emphasized the initial confusion surrounding the incoming report of an emergency landing.
Recovery operations by the volunteer fire department, supported by six police patrols and ASFINAG (the Austrian motorway operator), began around 16:20 p.m. The aircraft, with a wingspan of 10,78 meters, was subsequently towed to the former customs post in Arnoldstein, where it was parked for further technical examination. The A2 motorway had to be temporarily closed for the duration of the recovery operation, causing traffic disruptions in the direction of Klagenfurt. Following the landing and the subsequent work, a traffic jam of approximately three kilometers formed. Around 17:00 p.m., ASFINAG announced that the road was clear again and the traffic disruptions were gradually easing.