What happened
On August 8, 2001, a PIPER PA-36-300, registration EC-FJG, was performing agricultural spraying operations over a beet field in Fuentesaúco de Fuentidueña, Segovia. During the final spray run, the aircraft struck the lower wires of a three-wire power line running along the edge of the field.
The impact with the electrical wires caused the vertical stabilizer and rudder to detach from the fuselage. Although the aircraft remained flyable, the loss of the vertical empennage rendered the aircraft unstable. The pilot attempted an emergency landing in a nearby grain field, managing to touch down relatively gently. However, following the landing, the pilot lost consciousness due to injuries sustained during the initial wire impact. Without pilot control, the aircraft became airborne again due to high lift from the flap configuration and subsequently crashed violently into the terrain.
The investigation
The CIAIAC examined the wreckage, the flight sequence, and the condition of the aircraft's safety equipment. Investigators analyzed the damage to the wire-deflecting cable and the vertical stabilizer to reconstruct the impact sequence. The investigation also included tensile testing of the recovered safety harness components.
Testing revealed that the shoulder straps of the safety harness had undergone extreme degradation, likely due to ultraviolet radiation and chemical exposure from agricultural products. The tensile strength of the recovered straps was found to be significantly lower than required by regulatory standards, with failure occurring at loads approximately five times lower than those seen in healthy harnesses.