Accident Summary
On 26 February 2020, at approximately 03:15 local time, a Piper PA-44 Seminole, registered F-GCJE, collided with the ground in a field near Elne, Pyrénées-Orientales, France. The person at the controls was fatally injured, and the aeroplane was destroyed.
Aircraft and Operator
The aircraft was a twin-engine Piper PA-44 Seminole owned by Aéropyrénées flying school. It was equipped with piston engines and retracting landing gear. The engines could be started without the use of a key. The last flight prior to the accident was an examination flight for an IR/ME rating. After that flight, approximately 250 litres of fuel remained, sufficient for about three hours of flight. The aircraft had been due for a scheduled 100-hour inspection and was left unlocked.
Sequence of Events
A man climbed over a wire fence topped with barbed wire to access Perpignan-Rivesaltes airport at night. The airport's runways and taxiways were closed due to NOTAMs from 22:30 to 06:30 from 24 February to 28 February 2020, because of works rendering the Automatic Parameter Transmission System and pilot-controlled lighting unavailable. The man entered the aircraft, started both engines, and taxied to the V taxiway, from which he took off at around 02:20. From 02:55, he flew south of the Perpignan CTR at low height. At approximately 03:17, a witness on the ground saw the aeroplane in level flight, enter a turn, adopt a nose-up attitude, followed by a nose‑down attitude toward the ground. The aeroplane made a high-energy impact with the ground in a field.
Meteorological Conditions
The night of the accident was very dark, with the moon (first quarter crescent) having set at 20:19 the prior evening. METAR reports at Perpignan-Rivesaltes between 02:30 and 03:30 indicated a westerly wind of 15 to 19 kt with gusts up to 34 kt, few clouds with a minimum base height of 4,400 ft, broken clouds at 5,000 ft and 6,400 ft, and visibility above 10 km.
Wreckage Examination
The accident site was located 8 NM south-east of the airport. Examination of the wreckage and the site revealed no failure likely to have contributed to the accident. The damage observed resulted from the impact. The aeroplane had a nose-down attitude close to vertical with its wings level. The flaps and landing gear were retracted, and the engines were delivering power.
Conclusions
The man at the controls was 20 years old and Italian. He had no pilot license and, according to his parents, no flying experience and no aeroplane flight simulation software on his computer. He had arrived in France from Italy a few days before the accident. Toxicology analyses did not find any element likely to explain the accident. The aircraft being left unlocked facilitated entry. The safety investigation did not endeavour to determine the reasons behind the man's choice to use the aircraft in this illicit context.