Almost a year after the crash of an aerobatic plane causing the death of the 2 pilots, on April 12, 2022, in the town of Prat-Bonrepaux, the Accident Investigation Bureau for State Aeronautical Safety (BEA -É) in charge of the investigations published its final report on Tuesday March 28, 2023. We now know precisely the causes of the tragedy that cost the lives of the test pilots of the Toulouse company Aura Aéro who were proceeding from the aerodrome of Saint-Girons – Antichan to the certification of the “Integral R”, a small single-engine, low-wing, two-seater side-by-side aircraft intended for aerobatics.
Le BEA-É note that “As part of a validation flight, the test aircraft took off from the aerodrome around 10:50 a.m., with 2 experienced aerobatic pilots on board”. Having reached the testing area, “One of the pilots then makes a series of tight turns under load factors. Everything is going as planned when at the end of a turn under 7 G one of the pilots says “it’s not going well”. The aircraft, which was then at a little over 2,100 meters above sea level and was flying at 330 km/h, suddenly dived towards the ground.note the BEA-É investigators who note that “the pilot tries to regain control; after 16 seconds, the aircraft’s emergency parachute is triggered just 300 meters above the ground while the aircraft is traveling at a speed of 420 km/h”.
One of the 2 pilots is then ejected “under the effect of excessive negative accelerations” and the “Integral R” immediately crashes vertically, 4 seconds later, at a speed of 130 km/h, slowed down by its parachute, in a meadow bordering the departmental road 533, 3 km from the aerodrome . The 2 occupants who did not have time to activate their individual dorsal parachutes were killed instantly. It was 11:04 a.m., as specified on the day of the crash by the Ariège prefecture.
According to the strong 57-page investigation report – read in full here :– the loss of control of the aircraft is not due to pilot error, but “it is consecutive to the destruction of part of the right wing probably caused by strong vibrations of the ailerons”. Following the Antichan accident, the BEA-É made safety recommendations to Aura Aéro.
In a communiqué following the publication of the report, the company indicates that “Our own investigations had also led us to the same conclusions already taken into account in the development and production of the devices (…) The resumption of test flights will take place in the very next few weeks, when EASA and the DGAC will issue us the permit to fly”.
