What happened
On July 26, 1964, a Cessna 172 (registration D-ELGE) departed from Basel-Mulhouse airport carrying a pilot and three passengers. During the flight, a passenger became unwell, prompting the pilot to divert to the nearby Sisseln airfield for an unscheduled landing.
Upon approaching the grass runway, the pilot maintained a relatively high airspeed of 80 mph. The aircraft touched down approximately 250 to 300 meters past the runway threshold, causing the plane to bounce. At this late stage, the pilot decided to execute a go-around but failed to retract the landing flaps, which remained fully extended.
In an attempt to avoid hitting a farm track located just 80 meters past the runway end, the pilot pulled the aircraft off the ground before it had reached sufficient takeoff speed. The aircraft struggled to gain altitude, and the wing subsequently struck a fruit tree. The aircraft then settled back to the ground and eventually came to rest 300 meters from the end of the runway after the nose gear collapsed.