the essential
In May 2023, a pilot was killed in Montans during a pleasure flight over the Tarn. A year and a half later, the reasons for this accident are becoming clearer.
He was an experienced pilot. Passionate even. He died this morning of May 27, 2023, while trying to land at Gaillac aerodrome. His aircraft, a two-seater Europa, crashed in a field in Montans, a few hundred meters away. The pilot, 90 years old, died instantly. Aged 76, his wife, who accompanied him, was able to survive after being airlifted to Purpan hospital, suffering from multiple traumas.
Source BEA
A year and a half later, the investigation entrusted to the Bureau of Investigation and Analysis allows us to better understand how this experienced pilot, with 1,800 hours of flight and 30 years of experience, could have died in this tragic accident. His investigation report, recently made public, reveals a mechanical defect which is at the origin of this tragic chain of circumstances.
Source BEA
In question? A poorly screwed part. Specifically, the “ground conductor lug” which was not tightened to its metal bracket. This defect prevented the correct regulation of the propeller pitch, which is automated on this type of aircraft. The pilot, owner of the two-seater and who himself maintained it, had noticed occasional failures, without being able to determine their origin. He had spoken to his son about it shortly before the tragedy.
“I don’t understand why the plane isn’t going up.”
On Saturday May 27, 2023, the pilot and his wife took off from the Toulouse-Lasbordes aerodrome around 11 a.m. for a local pleasure flight. The weather conditions are ideal. The pilot follows the Tarn to the Gaillac aerodrome, where he begins to land. Its trajectory is a little too long. The pilot aborts his approach and goes around again. A very classic maneuver that pilots are experienced at.
Except that the automatic regulator did not do its job. The propeller does not turn at the correct pitch and the plane lacks power. “I don’t understand why the plane isn’t climbing,” the pilot wonders out loud. By reflex, he pulls a little more on the handle… which further penalizes his acceleration.
The pilot then takes a lap around the track to try a new approach. He begins a turn to the left, which slows him down even more. “When he noticed that the climb performance was not as expected, the pilot did not change his strategy and maneuvered the plane at low speed, until he lost control,” the investigators indicate. At 11:22 a.m., the aircraft crashed in a field, not far from Montans.
In its investigation report, the BEA notes that “the malfunction of the regulator was difficult to detect by the pilot before the approach was aborted” and that “no operational procedure encouraged him to check its working condition”. He was therefore unable to make the right choices in his landing strategy, “by selecting, for example, an aerodrome with a longer runway length”, underline the investigators, who suggest reviewing the procedures accordingly.
