Sabadell - Sabadell

On June 23, 2009 at 10:45 AM, Sabadell - Sabadell experienced a crash involving Partenavia P.68, operated by Gavina, with the event recorded near Sant Pere de Vilamajor Catalonia.

The flight was categorized as training and the reported phase was flight at a city crash site.

2 people were known to be on board, 2 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 2, crew fatalities: 2, passengers on board: 0, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The airplane, a Vulcan Air PA68 Observer 2, registration EC-IPG, had taken off from Sabadell airport to conduct a local flight. Onboard were the instructor and a pilot who was being tested for a CRI (SPA) (Class Rating Instructor). As they were flying over the town of Sant Pere de Vilamajor (Barcelona), the aircraft plunged to the ground, falling within the property limit of a private dwelling (a chalet). Several eyewitnesses reported that they stopped hearing the engine noise and that they then saw the airplane spinning in a nose down attitude. The front part of the airplane (cockpit) impacted the ground first. The crash resulted in a fire, the flames from which reached a part of the aircraft and an arbor next to the house, but not the house itself, though it was affected by the smoke. The two occupants perished immediately and were trapped inside the airplane. They were extracted by emergency personnel. The aircraft was destroyed by the impact and subsequent fire. The post-accident inspection did not reveal any signs of a fault or malfunction of any aircraft component. It has been determined that the accident resulted from a stall caused by flying the aircraft at a low speed. It has also been concluded that there were three contributing factors: the low altitude, the very likely possibility that the crew did not establish guidelines for action prior to the flight and the absence of an authority gradient between the crew members.

Aircraft reference details include registration EC-IPG, MSN 421-21-OB2, year of manufacture 2003.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 41.6843°, 2.3900°.