During the evening, at a private party, a pilot and a parachutist decided to go for a night flight and parachute jump at FL100 from the Albi - Le Séquestre aerodrome (Tarn, France). Shortly before 23:00 lt (local time) the pilot contacted the Blagnac ATC, in charge of the Toulouse FIS (Flight Information Service) to inform them about his intentions. No objections were raised and the pilot was requested to contact the FIS before the parachute jump.
The burned wreckage, the day after the accident (Source & © La Dépêche)
At 00:30 lt the pilot and parachutist took off from 27 at Albi in the Cessna - 206 (SOLOY), a Cessna 206 equipped with a 450 SHP, Rolls-Royce 250-B17/F2 turboshaft engine. There was no nightlighting at the airport, however the take-off was uneventful. The aircraft climbed to an altitude of 6400 ft, before descending to 4300 feet.
At 00:39 the pilot contacted ATC and advised them of his intentions, a single parachute drop at FL55. ATC approved the drop. Subsequently, the pilot contacted ATC twice more to state his intentions, twice the controller reiterated his approval. At 00:48 lt the pilot reported that the drop was made at an altitude of 4500 feet, left the frequency and set course back to Albi Aerodrome.
Not much was left of the aircraft (Source & © La Dépêche)
At 00:50 the aircraft disappeared from the ATC radar screens when the plane flew into a hill. It struck the vegetation on a hillside approximately 2,200 m southeast of the threshold of runway 27, along a course heading towards the threshold of that runway. The accident site is hilly and covered with dense vegetation about two to three metres high. Examining the vegetation found that the aircraft had a shallow pitch attitude when colliding with the trees. Surprisingly the pilot was only slightly injured and managed to extract himself from the wreckage before it caught fire. At 01:25 the alarm was raised when an emergency locator transmitter signal became active, close to Albi Aerodrome. The post-crash fire consumed the aircraft.
The pilot was transported to a nearby hospital where Toxicology tests revealed that he was under the influence of alcohol. During the investigation into the accident by the BEA (Bureau d'Enquêtes et d' Analyses pour le sécurité de l'aviation civile - French civil aviation safety bureau) it was found that night flights departing from or arriving at Albi Aerodrome and parachute drops were therefore not permitted under the regulations.
The tail section (Source & © La Dépêche)
The BEA concluded that the following factors contributed to the accident;
Alcohol consumption and collective emulation may have impaired judgement and led to this flight going ahead.
Improvising a night flight from an aerodrome where the lighting was not on.
Lack of outside visual references at night and in hilly surroundings.
The interpretation of the communication with the control tower supervisor in Toulouse encouraged the pilot to go ahead with his plans.
The BEA report, which served as the source for this blog, can be accessed by clicking on the .pdf file below;
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