A pilot killed in a microlight crash, near Toulouse: the BEA delivers its conclusions on the accident
Through Guillaume Laurent
Published on
Date them back to July 29, 2021, in the town of Fousseret (Haute-Garonne), South of Toulouse. That day, a 67-year-old man died in the crash of his ULM, after having “lost control” of his machine, “a few minutes after takeoff”, the rescuers had indicated. The ULM crashed not far from the base from which it left. Seriously injured and urgently airlifted by Samu 31 to Purpan Hospital, in Toulouse, Man is deceased from his injuries.
Records, testimonies and images from the ULM camera
This Friday, February 18, 2022, the Bureau of Investigations and Analysis (BEA) for the safety of civil aviation delivered its conclusions on the accident of this pendulum ULM baptized “La Mouette”, after relying on on-site expertise, but also testimonies and images from a camera installed on the machine, which made it possible to retrace the course of the flight.
The victim “performed on average one to two flights per week”, according to another paramotor pilot who flew regularly with him. She held a paramotor pilot’s license, obtained in 2011, and a pendular qualification, obtained in January 2021, six months before the tragedy.
The ULM badly reassembled after a maintenance operation
“A few days before the accident, the pilot realized a maintenance operation to replace a right wing slat. To achieve this, he manipulated the tensioning device (this is what allows the rope of the sail to be stretched to the maximum, editor’s note) rear of the wing”, indicates the BEA, which discovered that the pilot had very probably poorly reassembled his gear.
“It is likely that he did not remove the wing of the trolley. After replacing the slat, when he carried out the tensioning, he did not put the hook and the ball pin back in position “.
Fixed on the right part of the wing, the camera was switched on by the pilot before the flight. The video which was extracted from it makes it possible to deduce the following sequence and to observe that “the tensioning device is not not in place at time T”, tells the BEA, which publishes the images (below) the movement of the tensioning hook, the lever of which can be seen moving forwards during the flight.
A first flight that lasted only 26 seconds after the operation
The BEA then describes the circumstances of the theftthe first after said maintenance operation, then depicts the precise trajectory of the ULM, from takeoff to crash.
“During the first flight after this operation, while the rear tensioning device was not in position, the pilot took off on board the 31RS (name of the aircraft, editor’s note) and rose to a height of 45 m The forces exerted by the air on the leading edges of the wing cause it to partially fold in. The tank oscillates then the microlight descends rapidly The pilot tries to push on the control bar, but does not control the fall. The microlight strikes the ground”.
“The pilot hit the ground about 170 meters after the end of the track, then rebounded before finishing his race in the vegetation a few meters from the point of impact”, conclude the specialists. The flight only lasted 26 seconds, according to the BEA, which specifies that “the reserve parachute was not used”.
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