private Alphajet down

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A private owned ex military twin jet trainer crashed yesterday 16:00 near Brannenburd, Bavaria. The jet flying under temporary civil certification owned by Red Bull nosedived into the ground. Though whitnesses have seen two parashutes, both pilots are still missing.
Let´s hope the best

Some photos may be found here (http://www.ovb-online.de/_/tools/diaview.html?_CMTREE=2155&list=1)

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Some update translated from OVB-online (registration required) :


Brannenburg - ´The People of Brannenburg were very lucky, they escaped closely an enormous disaster´ said mayor Peter Gold to the ´Oberbayrisches Volksblatt´ newspaper, after an Alphajet from Oberpfaffenhofen crashed.

The pilot probably pushed the plane steep into the ground, to avoid the closest houses of the village only 200 meters away. The pilot and his co were probably killed.

The mayor further reports, the plane was on a test flight close to the alps and hit the ground at a very steep attitude. ´It looks like the pilots gave their lives to avoid crashing into the dense settled quarter called Thannerhut´

The closest houses, including the nursing home ´St. Florian´, are only 200 meters away. The railway line Rosenheim-Kufstein is also very close to the crash site, a small railway crossing is nearby.

The fire and rescue service arriving at the scene found a terrific sight, a deep crater surroundet by smoking debris of the jet. There were no signs of the pilots, parashutes or ejection seats.

The crash happened at 15:39 UTC, at fist it was assumed a Phantom Jet of the german airforce had crashed, eyewitnesses have seen two parashutes, assuming the pilots have ejected safely. But this seems to be wrong later in the evening, when SAR helicopters using infrared cameras were not able to find any bodies around.

Finally it was confirmed, the plane was a private Alphajet owned by Red Bull, which had taken of from Oberpfaffenhofen Airfield (formerly used by Dornier) at 15:15 UTC.

Later the evening it became more evident, that both pilots lost their lives. They are suspected to be still in the wreakage. At 19:30 the Rosenheim Police director Franz Meyer told OVB, ´We have searched the whole area, and found no signs of the pilots. We have to assume they were killed in the Crash. It is suspected they are still in the cockpit about 10 meters deep in the soft ground. There was a pilot and a member of the german aviation authority (LBA) from Barunschweig on board´

Some wittnesses, including a railway worker, reported the plane was heading for the railway station, when it started a climb, performed a kind of loof and turned then steeply downward.

Expersts of the accident investigation departement arrived later the evening, to find out the cause of the accident.


Condolences to all involved :ugh:

[chuks]

I believe it to be the case that the German authorities do not allow civil aircraft to retain ejector seats, so that they were deactivated on the crash aircraft.

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It´s in Germany like at any authority, either an aviation equipment is certified, or forbidden. If certifying an ejection seat is to expensive, it is deactivated instead. It´s the decission of the one applying for the civil certification of the airplane. Don´t blame the authority for that. Either way, it´s an absurd situation sitting on a deactivated ejection seat when crashing... Really sad to know these guys might still be alive.

New photos show the horizontal stabilizer in bushes or wood, with only minor damage, while the rest of the plane sits in a deep crater on an open field, broken into small pieces. May this be a clue to the cause of the accident ? Let´s wait for the experts. Recovering the wreakage is hard, because the soft ground does not allow to use heavy equipment.

http://www.heute.t-online.de/ZDFheute/img/12/0,1369,2238508,00.jpg
http://www.rheinpfalz.de/img/afp/m/SGE.UIL11.301003072149.photo00.default-384x247.jpg

[Kerosene Kraut]

Civil ejection seats are not permitted in Germany because civilians are not permitted to own their fuel. (powder) However I wonder it it is a good idea to even fly displays with jets without this final life-insurance.

Update: German CAA "LBA" declared none of their members was onboard.


I seem to remember that Condor operated some target tow G-91s many years ago that were civilian registered and still had the bang seats. So it might be possible to keep them somehow.(?)