What happened
A training flight conducted from Sabadell airport ended in a fatal accident over the town of Sant Pere de Vilamajor. The aircraft, a Vulcan Air PA68 Observer 2 with registration EC-IPG, was being operated to evaluate a pilot for a Class Rating Instructor (CRI) qualification. The crew consisted of an instructor and a student pilot.
While flying over the region, the aircraft entered a nose-down spin and descended rapidly toward a private residence. Witnesses observed the engine noise cease before the plane began its descent. The cockpit area of the aircraft struck the ground first within the boundaries of a private property. The impact and the resulting fire destroyed the aircraft and spread to nearby vegetation, though the primary residence was only impacted by smoke.
Both occupants of the Vulcan Air PA68 Observer 2 sustained fatal injuries and died upon impact. Emergency responders arrived at the scene to extract the individuals from the wreckage.
Findings
An inspection of the wreckage found no evidence of mechanical failure or component malfunction. Investigators determined that the crash was caused by a stall resulting from low airspeed.
Several contributing factors were identified in the accident sequence:
- The low altitude at which the stall occurred
- A lack of established flight guidelines between the crew members prior to departure
- The absence of an effective authority gradient between the instructor and the student