What happened
On the evening of May 26, 2011, a Piper J3 Cub, registered F-BGXC, departed from the Cambrai Niergnies airfield for a local flight at an altitude of approximately 500 feet. The pilot was accompanied by one passenger.
After roughly fifteen minutes of flight, the pilot initiated a rapid descent while performing a right-hand turn. The intent of this maneuver was to increase airspeed in order to conduct a very low-level flight. During this descent, the aircraft's wheels made contact with a wheat field containing crops approximately 50 cm in height. This contact caused a sudden deceleration of the aircraft. Although the pilot attempted to apply full power to recover, the airspeed continued to drop rapidly, leading to an emergency landing within the field. Approximately 60 meters after the initial contact with the crops, the aircraft tipped onto its landing gear and eventually came to rest on its back. The aircraft sustained heavy damage.
The investigation
The investigation focused on the flight profile and the pilot's decision-making during the final stages of the flight. The pilot, a former military aviator with a professional pilot license and approximately 800 total flight hours, was evaluated alongside the flight circumstances. The investigation established that the aircraft's contact with the wheat crops was the immediate trigger for the loss of control and the subsequent inversion of the aircraft.