Originally Posted by
krohmie
German eyewitness:
Right Base on the wrong side of the higway for HPA aproach over the outskirts of Erzhausen.
Tight turn into ultrashort final with stall in the turn.
German flugzeugforum:
"Ich war heute bei der Kripo Darmstadt und habe meinen Augezeugenbericht zu Protokoll gegeben. Nur um einige Mutmaßungen hier zu zerstreuen: Ich wohne 600 meter südlch versetzt zum westlichen Landebahnende von EDFE. Ich war zufällig mit Sicht in Richtung Norden im Garten, als die Epic in maximal 100m Höhe mein Haus überflogen hat. Die Maschine hat den Ort überflogen, was sonst nur der Polizeihubschrauber darf, hab nur gerufen "Notlandung". Die Turbine lief, aber entweder unruhig oder es wurde gerade Gas herausgenommen, kein Rauch oder Flammen beobachtet. Die Maschine flog mit eingezogenem Fahrwerk ca 600 meter weiter und ist dann gefühlte 50 Meter hoch eng nach Westen eingekurvt ... ich dachte 1. das kann nicht sein und 2. gleich gibts nen Stall. Das passierte auch umgehend, die Epic ist über die linke Fläche abgeschmiert, hat noch eine halbe Rolle abwärts gemacht (so das ich die komplette Unterseite des Flugzeuges gesehen habe) und ist dann senkrecht mit sofortigem Aufschlagbrand eingeschlagen. "
My translation:
"I was at the police station Darmstadt today to give my eye-witness report. Just to dispel some speculation here: I live 600 metres south abeam of the westerly threshold of the runway at EDFE. I happened to be in my garden, looking north, as the Epic flew over my house, not more than 100 m high. The machine flew over the village, which normally only the police helicopter is permitted to do, I just called out "emergency landing". The turbine was running, but either it was running rough or had just been throttled back, I could see no smoke or flames. The machine flew with retracted landing gear maybe 600 more metres and turned tightly to the west in what felt like a height of 50 metres. ... I thought (1) this cannot happen and (2) soon there will be a stall. Which happened immediately, the Epic dipped over the left wing, made half a roll downwards (so that I could see the entire bottom of the aircraft) and impacted vertically, immediately followed by an impact fire."
So if the witness is not mistaken, it did not turn into final, which would have been to the east, but turned west, in the wrong direction, possibly because it was already over the runway and maybe intended to turn away and try again.
Here's the approach chart with the only permitted approach path to 08 for turbine-powered aircraft dotted in red:
Since the runway is 1400 m long (just under a mile) you can see that it is a very short final approach. I have only ever flown to EDFE in a very slow single-piston aircraft, and mostly to 26, so I imagine it is quite challenging to 08 in a fast turboprop.
The blue dashed line west of the Autobahn marks the border of the CTR of Frankfurt/Main EDDF. Being a very high-traffic airport, they don't like infringements at all.
So if it was flying over Erzhausen, it was on the correct side of the Autobahn, but still much too far to the east. Many VFR approach and departure routes in Germany follow motorways, because they are very easy to identify, and most of the time the routes are on the right side of the motorway, as is the case here. Approach to 08 is on the eastern side, and departure from 26 is on the western side.
Bernd