What happened
On the morning of October 21, 2005, a Cessna 150L was scheduled to perform a ferry flight from St. Georgen am Ybbsfeld to Trieben for maintenance purposes. The pilot had met with the operations manager at the airfield earlier that morning, but the departure was delayed several times due to prevailing poor weather conditions. Despite the presence of heavy fog, the pilot proceeded to take off from runway 04 at approximately 07:10 UTC.
Shortly after takeoff, the aircraft entered the cloud layer and became obscured from ground view. An eyewitness reported hearing rhythmic, wave-like engine sounds, suggesting the aircraft was oscillating in altitude. After approximately seven to eight cycles of these sounds, a loud bang was heard. Following this noise, the operations manager lost all radio contact with the pilot, and engine sounds could no longer be heard from the ground. The aircraft was presumed to have crashed around 07:20 UTC.
Search efforts were hampered by the dense fog, and the wreckage was not located in a wooded area until approximately 08:32 UTC. The pilot sustained fatal injuries, and the aircraft was destroyed.
The investigation
The investigation was reconstructed using eyewitness accounts and findings from the Austrian Federal Safety Investigation Board (SUB) and local authorities. The investigation focused on the flight path during the climb phase and the environmental conditions at the time of departure.