A recreational pilot from Bernried am Starnberger See prevented a catastrophe with a flying feat: he almost collided with the cable of a material ropeway near Sölden (Tyrol) and crashed.
He survived the crash landing and one passenger was seriously injured.
Sölden - Maxime C. (40) from Bernried is a recreational pilot with body and soul.
Born in France, he began gliding at the age of 15, completing over 100 hours of flight every year, and has owned an ultralight aircraft for seven years - a Zlin Savage made in the Czech Republic, which he sells all in one at the airfield in Peiting near Schongau Stationed in the hangar.
On Sunday, Maxime C., like so often before, set off from there with a friend and colleague - Matthias B. (32) from Munich - on a sightseeing flight over the Alps.
Actually a matter of routine for the married engineer.
During an extra lap, a tightrope gets in the way of the flyer
This time the route led into the Ötztal and from there into the Gurgler Valley, which branches off from there.
“We then wanted to have a look at the glacier, but we were still too low for that,” the amateur pilot tells our newspaper.
So Maxime C. wanted to fly another lap towards Ötztal to gain altitude.
"Suddenly I saw the wire rope in front of me," says Maxime C.
It is the rope of the material ropeway of the Ramolhaus - a mountain hut at an altitude of 3006 meters.
The rope spans the Gurgler valley at a lofty height on the other mountain flank.
A collision with the rope at a height of almost 3,000 meters would probably have been fatal.
"The plane would have crashed straight away," reports Manfred Schiefele, operator of the Peitinger airfield.
The valley floor is over 1000 meters lower there!
But Maxime C. kept his nerve, he pulled the plane up just before the wire rope, which resulted in a stall and the plane went into a tailspin.
"I have already practiced this situation several times at great heights", Maxime C. continues.
After about one revolution, the aircraft was again horizontal in the air.
“I almost caught it, but then we hit the mountain.” At around 2700 meters above sea level, the high-decker crashed onto the mountain flank.
"The chassis with the big rubber wheel prevented the worst," says Maxime C.
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The crashed plane on the mountainside below the Ramolhaus
© Zoom Tirol
Helm apparently saved pilots from worse
The plane slid over a steep snow-covered gully around 50 meters into the depths until the wreck finally came to a standstill. The pilot was able to free himself quickly: "I wear a helmet because in an accident with a biplane the upper wing can hit the pilot." Otherwise he might have been unconscious. Maxime C. helped his friend out, alerted the ambulance by radio, his tracking system, which he carried with him in such cases, ensured that the two were found quickly.
Rescuing the rope with a rescue helicopter turned out to be difficult because it had to be carried out under the rope of the material ropeway.
Finally Maxime C. came to the hospital in Zams (Tyrol) with suspected vertebral fractures, his seriously injured friend to a clinic in Innsbruck.
We have already phoned ”, says Maxime C. He hopes that neither of them will be permanently damaged.
"The most important thing is that we are both alive."
(Johannes Welte)