G7 summit: crash next to the Schlosshotel – Vienna pilot triggers large-scale operation – “I think we thought we were terrorists”

Created: 06/23/2022, 19:25

By: Christof Schnürer

Rescue in the thicket: Thomas Unden was unharmed in the crash.

Due to the proximity to the G7 summit, the police presence was large.

© Hans Schmid/Fire Brigade Mittenwald

A doctor from Vienna got into turbulence with his microlight aircraft – only two and a half kilometers away from the G7 conference hotel.

That raises questions.

Mittenwald

– The people who are looking for relaxation in the scorching heat in Mittenwald's Kranzberg area on Monday are holding their breath.

“Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear”, a child calls out when, some distance away, it sees a plane with a rescue parachute spinning down from the blue sky.

At some point the machine disappeared into the woods.

"It was luck in disguise," says Thomas Unden.

"The forest slowed us down." When "Leopold", as his machine is called, hits the doctor from Vienna (59) and his son Gregor only notice a slight bump - even though they are from a height of around 8000 feet at the age of five fell down at up to six meters per second.

Microlight crashes near the G7 Castle to the ground - countless police officers move in

When father and son miraculously climb out of their 240-kilo ultralight aircraft in the spruce thicket at Lake Ferchensee, the first rescue workers arrive a short time later.

"The two seemed very relaxed," says the Mittenwald fire brigade commander Karl Seitz.

But not only his men came with the new G7-Quad and the alarmed mountain rescue service with their all-terrain "Pinzgauer".

The police were also on site - and by no means only officials from the local inspection, but also those police forces who take care of the security of Schloss Elmau.

The luxury hotel where the G7 summit will take place from Sunday.

"There were an insane number of police officers," recalls Thomas Unden.

"They probably thought we were terrorists."

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After a plane crash in Mittenwald: father and son unharmed - concerns about the G7 summit

The following day, corresponding rumors were already circulating in Mittenwald.

Because the fact that an unknown plane crashed just six days before the conference of the seven heads of state and government two and a half kilometers away from Schloss Elmau - it can't be a coincidence.

It was.

When the Undens bought their machine two hours before the accident in Bremgarten (Canton Aargau) in Switzerland for 18,500 euros and each tried three take-offs and three landings on grass and concrete, none of the two Viennese knew that in a few days in Upper Bavaria a G7 summit takes place.

And when their light aircraft took off for Carinthia, they originally wanted to get there via the Inn Valley.

As clouds gathered, the pilot decided to divert via the northern Bavarian route.

Shortly before the Wettersteinwand, the machine began, according to Unden,

"normal attitude" and about 100 kilometers per hour to turn to the left.

"To this day we don't know why."

Thomas Unden, doctor from Vienna © private

Then it's really quick.

The son pulls the emergency parachute, the pilot tries to stay away from the rocky and rugged terrain with gas and propeller.

And so “Leopold” hits the Mittenwald mountain forest on its maiden flight, so to speak.

Where a no-fly zone will be set up over a large area next Saturday as part of the G7 (all G7 information at a glance).

Unden doesn't know that either.

But what would have happened if he had completed that exact flight from Switzerland to Carinthia five days later?

At a time when the Federal Chancellor and the US President are already staying in Schloss Elmau?

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The G7 planning staff of the Bavarian police is very cautious in their assessment of this scenario, which by no means seems unrealistic since the Unden flight.

"Of course, the police also keep an eye on violations of the no-fly zone and take step-by-step measures depending on the occasion," said a spokesman.

He doesn't get specific, it stays with generalities.

"Unfortunately, for reasons of police tactics, we cannot provide any further information on this."

Unden, captain and a pilot in the air for 40 years, doesn't mind.

"I'm not afraid." He was shot in Libya, capsized twice in a ship, beat cancer and survived a plane crash four times.

"So I'm not sensitive.

I've died eight or nine times already."

The G7 summit is planned for June 26-28 at Schloss Elmau at the foot of the Wetterstein Mountains near Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

The heads of state and government of the USA, Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and Canada will meet under the leadership of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD).

The heads of state will have their first contact with the host country, Germany, at Munich Airport.

Preparations are already in full swing there.

Shortly before the G7 summit, eight police cars burned out in Munich.

They were standing in front of a hotel that houses emergency workers for the summit.

You can find more current news about the 2022 summit at Merkur.de/G7-Gipfel Elmau