Extra EA-400

After takeoff from Samedan Airport Runway 03, while in initial climb, the single engine airplane went out of control and crashed in La Punt-Chamues-ch, some 6 km northeast of the airport, bursting into flames. The airplane crashed nearby houses and was totally destroyed by impact forces and a post crash fire. All three occupants were killed.

The pilot, sole on board, departed Příbram Airport in the early afternoon on a private flight to Moravská Třebová. About 15 minutes into the flight, while cruising in good weather conditions, he encountered engine problems and elected to divert to Benešov Airfield. Shortly later, some cooling liquid leaked from the engine into the cabin and on the windshield, reducing the pilot's vision. He elected to make an emergency landing in a cornfield when, upon touchdown, the aircraft crashed and came to rest upside down with its right wing torn off. There was no fire. The pilot was injured and the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

The pilot was conducting a personal flight with four passengers. A witness observed the airplane take off and climb slowly from the airport. A pilot flying in the vicinity observed the airplane maneuver erratically before the airplane impacted terrain in a near-vertical attitude. The airplane was destroyed by impact forces and a postimpact fire. The wreckage was contained to a confined area in the field and the remains of the major airplane components were all accounted for. Extensive thermal damage to the airframe and engine limited the scope of the postaccident examination. The impact energy needed to drive the engine into the ground suggested that the engine was producing power at the time of the accident. A postaccident examination of the remaining airframe and engine components did not reveal any anomalies which would have precluded normal operation of the airplane. Depending on the amount of fuel, baggage and equipment on board, and the location of the adult passenger, the center of gravity (CG) could have been within or aft of the recommended CG. Since fuel load and location of the passengers could not be determined or may have shifted during flight, it is not known if loading contributed to the accident. The pilot was not operating with valid medical certification. His second-class medical certificate had expired several years prior to the accident and Federal Aviation Administration records did not indicate that he had obtained BasicMed medical certification. A pilot-rated passenger was seated in the rightfront seat. Investigators were unable to determine who was manipulating the flight controls of the airplane at the time of the accident. The circumstances of the accident are consistent with the pilot’s loss of control. However, the reason for the loss of control could not be determined with the available evidence.

The pilot went through the checklist “BEFORE STARTING ENGINE CHECKLIST” and then started the engine. Everything was normal and, after going through the subsequent points on the checklist, he taxied out to the end of runway 04 where he performed the “BEFORE TAKEOFF CHECK”. In the position at the end of the runway, an engine check was carried out. All was set at 10:50 hrs. As the accident happened outside opening hours, the Airport was unmanned and no AFIS or recovery services were available. The pilot held the aircraft back on brakes and gave “full power”. All indications were normal, according to the pilot. All the instruments indicated “high power”. He released the brakes and checked the acceleration. At 50% of the runway’s length, the passenger in the right front seat called an airspeed of 60 kts IAS, and at 75% of the runway, the pilot rotated the aircraft. At that point the speed was 78 kts. The pilot estimates that the aircraft had gained a height of approx. 25 m when he experienced a loss of power (“leistungsverlust”), which he thought was related to a loss of turbo power, shortly after the stall warning light came on. The pilot realized that it was impossible to continue the flight, so he attempted to land on the remaining runway. 150 m of the runway still remained, and the aircraft landed hard at a steep angle on the runway. The aircraft hit the runway hard on the main wheels and the tail. When the pilot realized that it would be difficult to stop on the remaining portion of the runway, he retracted the landing gear. The aircraft continued past the end of the runway, where it hit several large rocks along the breakwater, where the approach lights for runway 04 are positioned. Following hitting the rocks, the pilot registered fire in the engine, which was quickly extinguished when the aircraft entered the water along the breakwater. The left wing hit so hard into the breakwater that the aircraft rotated 180° and stopped in the opposite direction of the take-off. The aircraft half filled with water immediately. The passengers and pilot unfastened their seat belts and evacuated through the emergency hatch on the right-hand side of the aircraft. The passenger seated in the cabin received only minor injuries during the evacuation, mainly caused by the jagged rocks.

The pilot, sole on board, departed Dinslaken-Schwarze Heide Airport on a flight to Donaueschingen. While in cruising altitude in poor weather conditions, the aircraft entered an uncontrolled descent and crashed in Hagen. The aircraft was destroyed and the pilot was killed. He was supposed to deliver the aircraft to his new owner.