What happened
On the morning of October 7, 2024, a Cirrus SR2 2, registration N456AR, departed from the Atlantic Air Park private aerodrome near Roche-sur-Yon for a cross-country flight. The pilot's intended route involved flying to Dinard Pleurtuit – Saint-Malo airport to meet another pilot before proceeding to Guernsey for scheduled maintenance on the aircraft's parachute system.
Shortly after takeoff from runway 08, the aircraft entered a continuous left-hand turn while climbing. Within approximately one minute of departure, the aircraft began a steep descent at a rate of nearly 2,000 feet per minute. Radar data and wreckage analysis indicate the aircraft struck the ground at a high horizontal speed. The impact resulted in two fatalities and the total destruction of the aircraft.
The investigation
The investigation examined the wreckage, meteorological data, and flight systems. Investigators found that the aircraft's engine was producing torque at the moment of impact, and the flight controls had suffered sudden ruptures consistent with a high-speed ground collision. The airframe parachute remained in its housing and was not deployed.
Meteorological reports confirmed that at the time of the accident, the area was experiencing overcast conditions with a cloud base as low as 300 to 400 feet, accompanied by mist. While the pilot had consulted with air traffic control prior to departure and was informed that conditions were compatible with VFR flight, witnesses and official weather data indicated that visibility was significantly reduced and the cloud layer was dense and low.
Technical analysis of the aircraft's Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) revealed that the "terrain inhibit" function had been manually activated. This was done to prevent erroneous alerts because the departure aerodrome was not included in the system's database, effectively disabling ground proximity warnings during the initial phase of flight.
Findings
- The pilot initiated the flight despite weather conditions that were incompatible with VFR flight.
- The aircraft likely entered a low cloud layer shortly after takeoff, leading to a loss of external visual references.
- Because the pilot did not hold an instrument rating, he was unable to maintain orientation once visual contact with the ground was lost.
- The pilot's determination to reach the maintenance workshop in Guernsey likely led to an underestimation of the risks, a phenomenon often referred to as "get-home-itis."