Light aircraft wreckage recovered more than a year since disappearance
The discovery of the remains of a light aircraft, brought to shore by a fishing trawler, has been identified as a missing German C172 that went missing with one person on board in September 2023. Human remains were found inside the aircraft.
Confirming the identify of the aircraft, the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) stated that it was “supporting Police Scotland and working with the BFU [ Germany’s Bundesstelle für Flugunfalluntersuchung] to assist their safety investigation”. Police Scotland has launched an investigation.
According to Aviation Safety Network, the 2006 Cessna (registered D-EDDH) was chartered by a 62 year old pilot to visit relatives in the Bavarian town of Bayreuth; 143 miles to the southeast. However, after taking off from Uetersen Airfeld, the aircraft immediately turned north and was detected in Norwegian airspace flying a north-northwest direction over the North Sea. The last radar contact was recorded approximately 70 nautical miles southeast of the Shetland islands.
The aircraft transponded a VFR code throughout the flight and did not make radio contact with any of the countries whose airspace it entered. Although the flight was operated under visual flight rules, the pilot – who had held a European license since 2013 – had acquired his instrument rating in 2005. Examination of the pilot’s medical file was “unremarkable and gave no reason to deny Class 2 fitness to fly,” explained the BFU.
When the aircraft failed to return at the agreed time, the owner reported it missing. German search and rescue services sent a boat and an aircraft to its last known location. The next day, British and Norwegian search and rescue services then deployed further resources which also proved unsuccessful in their quest to find the aircraft. “The forces that occurred during contact with the water surface, the low water temperature, the lack of emergency equipment… made this air accident on the North Sea difficult or even impossible to survive,” concluded the BFU.
As the last radar point was over international waters, the BFU – as representative of the state of registration – took over management of the investigation, aided by Danish, British, Norwegian, Swiss and US counterparts. According to the accident report issued by the BFU, the owner considered it very unlikely that the aircraft would go into a spin, and that the aircraft’s autopilot was capable of maintaining previously programmed courses or changing course independently. The pilot had explicitly requested an autopilot-enabled aircraft on the day of the accident.
The BFU added that on the morning of the accident, the pilot spontaneously informed his wife – who was originally scheduled to be a passenger – that she would not be flying, although concluded that it “is not aware of the detailed circumstances and motives”.
