What happened
On December 1, 2023, at 09:13 UTC, an ENSTROM 280FX Shark, registration F-HPUX, departed from a landing area near the IFEMA exhibition center in Madrid. The flight was a positioning flight intended to move the aircraft to the Cuatro Vientos Aerodrome via a pre-established air corridor used by participants of the EUROPEAN ROTORS trade fair.
During the initial climb, while approaching the elevated roundabout at kilometer 5.5 of the M-40 motorway, the aircraft experienced a loss of engine power. This malfunction prevented the pilot from maintaining a safe flight path. In an attempt to manage the emergency, the pilot performed an emergency landing on the median of the motorway. During the descent, the aircraft's tail cone struck a vehicle traveling on the highway.
The accident resulted in two serious injuries to the occupants of the aircraft (the pilot and one passenger) and one minor injury to the driver of the vehicle. The aircraft sustained substantial damage, and the vehicle also suffered significant damage. No fire occurred during the event.
The investigation
The CIAIAC investigation focused on three primary areas: determining the cause of the reported engine power loss, evaluating the pilot's emergency management during the incident, and reviewing the administrative permits required for the flight operation.