What happened
On Wednesday, July 16, at 16:10, a Socata MS 893 A Rallye Commodore, registered F-BSKE, was engaged in an aerial work mission involving the towing of an advertising banner. While performing the maneuver to hook the banner, the rope attached to the grappling hook became wrapped around the elevator.
The pilot, unaware that the control surface had been compromised, believed the initial attachment attempt had simply failed and prepared for a second attempt. As the aircraft passed the banner, the pilot initiated a climb. During this phase, the pilot reported that the control column suddenly moved abruptly to the nose-down position. Despite the pilot's efforts to recover the aircraft's attitude, the plane crashed at the end of the runway. The pilot sustained serious injuries, and the aircraft was destroyed.
The investigation
The investigation focused on the sequence of events during the banner attachment process and the mechanical state of the aircraft's flight controls. Investigators examined the possibility that the grappling cable may have struck the ground and rebounded, contributing to the entanglement of the elevator.