What happened
On October 27, 2002, at approximately 12:40 local time, a Mooney M20E, registration D-EIGB, was performing an intermediate approach to runway 18 at Castellón aerodrome. During the approach, the aircraft's left wing collided with a microlight autogyro, registration EC-YQH, which was operating in the vicinity of the aerodrome.
The impact caused the microlight to fall to the ground, where it was destroyed by a post-crash fire. The occupants of the EC-YQH were two fatalities. The pilot of the D-EIGB was able to continue the approach and land the aircraft on the runway approximately 90 seconds after the collision. The occupants of the D-EIGB sustained no injuries.
At the time of the accident, the D-EIGB was on a private flight from Perpignan, France, to the Málaga region. The microlight had departed from the same aerodrome approximately 30 minutes earlier, intending to perform local coastal flights.