PPRuNe Forums - King Air crash at Egelsbach Airfield (EDFE)

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King Air crash at Egelsbach Airfield (EDFE)

News say the aircraft crashed at 1515 UTC into a forest east of EDFE, while approaching runway 27.
Rescue services are on scene and still fighting the fire.

Lets hope for a good outcome and no one was injured.

Google News: Sportflugzeug nach Start abgestrzt

The departure aerodrome was Bremen Airport.

The aircraft was a Beechcraft King Air 90 on an IFR flight from Bremen to Egelsbach. IFR had been cancelled just prior to the crash for a VFR approach at Egelsbach. The pilot hadn't reported any problems to ATC.

TV footage shows the machine scattered into many pieces. Still no mention of POB or survivors.

Police now mentions three POB. No mention of survivors.

Dont seem to find much on this in the media.

Anybody knows the registration?

Thanks

accdg to aviation safety it is D-IDVK

ASN Aircraft accident 07-DEC-2009 Beechcraft F90 King Air D-IDVK

rip

D-IDVK
saw it some days ago in the mx shop. strange feeling to see parts of the wreckage

Some background info

These are the METARs for Egelsbach (EDFE) and Frankfurt/Main (EDDF, ~5NM NW of EDFE) around the time of the accident (1516Z):

Code:

EDFE 071620Z AUTO 10004KT //// R27/1400VP2000U // /// 05/05 Q1011

EDFE 071550Z AUTO 09003KT //// // /// 05/05 Q1011

EDFE 071520Z 09004KT 5000 BR FEW005 SCT010 BKN250 06/06 Q1012

EDFE 071450Z 08002KT 5000 BR FEW005 SCT010 BKN250 06/06 Q1012

EDFE 071420Z 09002KT 5000 BR FEW005 SCT010 BKN250 07/07 Q1012

EDFE 071350Z 33002KT 4000 BR SCT005 BKN008 07/07 Q1012



EDDF 071620Z 08003KT 1200 R25L/1100VP2000D R25R/P2000N BR FEW001 BKN002 05/05 Q1011 NOSIG

EDDF 071550Z VRB02KT 8000 SCT005 SCT060 BKN250 06/06 Q1012 NOSIG

EDDF 071520Z VRB02KT 8000 FEW004 BKN006 07/06 Q1012 NOSIG

EDDF 071450Z 36003KT 8000 FEW004 BKN008 BKN250 06/06 Q1012 BECMG SCT008

EDDF 071420Z 05002KT 8000 SCT004 BKN250 07/06 Q1012 NOSIG

EDDF 071350Z 03002KT 9999 FEW004 SCT006 BKN250 07/06 Q1013 NOSIG

The Egelsbach Airport website provides some AIP excerpts for reference like the visual operations charts for HPA (Overview and Detail). There is no instrument approach into EDFE and an unusual airspace structure due to EDDF close by. The AIP requires minimum 3km visibility and 1000ft ceiling. Additionally there is no ATC. Only FIS is provided. Max ALT during Approach is 1500ft MSL due to EDDF airspace above. The Frankfurt-Egelsbach Operations for High Performance Aircraft - How to get there and away again (pdf) also make for an interesting read.

Aircraft in question possibly Beechcraft F90 King Air D-IDVK according to ASN.

Judged from this footage of the accident scene (German, source: Hessischer Rundfunk) it looks like a high energy impact to me.

-Badente

Pictures of the crash site

First person found dead in the cabin. The two others are expected to be still in the cabin which is partly buried into the ground.

Some eyewitnesses say the aircraft exploded in the air, before impact!

Others say it became very slow and lost height rapidly until it struck the trees and exploded on the ground.

Fact is, weather was foggy yesterday and visibilitys changed often and sudden.

let's wait for the official report

Looking at the METARs above I am scratching my head, asking why the ceiling at Egelsbach could be so different from Frankfurt? They're only a few km's away from each other...

However, what mystifies me is the fact why anybody would even try an approach to a VFR airfield under the given conditions.:ugh:

Stunts like these have gone wrong in the past and they will continue to do so in the future.

Quote:

Looking at the METARs above I am scratching my head, asking why the ceiling at Egelsbach could be so different from Frankfurt? They're only a few km's away from each other...

Really? I´m based at EDFM and ETOR is just 1 nm further than EDDF is from EDFE. We sometimes are CAVOK whilst ETOR is fogged in or visa versa.
Called microclimate me thinks. The intensive traffic both air and ground around EDDF has its impact.

Quote:

However, what mystifies me is the fact why anybody would even try an approach to a VFR airfield under the given conditions

Well VFR is VFR, meaning you go there and look it up. I´ve landed often in conditions that looked on paper pretty bad, but where in good in reality.(and vice versa) I remember a flight in a Cherokee from a small field to EDDS, where the first half of the runway was invisible, RVR 100m and the other half was in the open, clear sky.
I landed, perfectly safe and legal, whilst commercial airliners couldn´t (that was before the runway was moved)

Back to EDFE, I think operations there could be safer, if ATC would offer an exit strategy IF VFR is lost during the approach (sorts of a missed approach procedure) - the workload is skyhigh at that time even without having to go back to Langen and ask to pickup IFR again with all that traffic into Frankfurt around you.

IF we need to speculate, I´d say that probably both looked outside and none on the ASI. The F90 is a nice airplane but stall recovery at low altitude isn´t on of her strong points. Due to the lack of CVR and FDR we probably will never know what really happened.

I have talked to one of the Langen ATC guys and they were able to look at the radar data of the flight. He said on their screens it looks like there was no trouble with the aircraft until impact. A steady and calm approach right into the forest.

EDFE and EDDF do often have differences in METAR/TAF data.

Your Dudeness,

I am not debating your experience of flying in and out of VFR airfields in 'Schermoney'. Nor do I want to get in an argument about who's more knowledgeable.

You're right, some WX-values can change rapidly over a given distance. And - believe me - I have my share of flights that started or ended with a VFR-portion ('Z-' or 'Y-flightplans', if I remember correctly), even if it's a long time ago and I'm glad that I don't have to do this any more on a daily basis.

The point I'm trying to make is merely this: far too many pilots press on in marginal weather, lowering their limits as they go along and the poor passengers behind (or next to) them or the non-flying public on the ground are suffering the consequences from their marginal judgement.

Any photos of the crash site in relation to the airport?

Pictures from Google Earth incl. the Flighttrack

Egelsbach (Hosted by PictureUpload.de)