The rescue operations, the recovery of the bodies and the carcass of the aircraft were very long.
An ULM pilot and his passenger, a young tourist whose age has not yet been specified, were killed in the crash of their aircraft this Sunday morning in western Reunion, said the gendarmerie.
Maneuvered by a 41-year-old pilot with 1,400 hours to his credit, the ultralight motorized glider (ULM) struck the wall of the Maïdo, which rises to 2,200 m to the west of the island.
The impact occurred less than 50 m from the vertical line of the cliff.
The accident took place around 8 a.m. local time (6 a.m. in Paris), during an overflight of the west of Reunion in which four microlights in all participated.
They were on a tourist flight, the circuit of which is usual and known to pilots.
The glider struck the rock face in front of the occupants of the aircraft behind it and several other witnesses.
The causes of the accident unknown
"We are dismayed, I do not understand what happened, it was a beautiful day, repeats at Réunion Première, Laurent Dumay, one of the ULM pilots who followed the aircraft which was crashed.
I was in third position in my device.
I saw it evolve on the Maïdo and afterwards I did not see it any more.
I learned from our radio, with another pilot, that he had crashed, but I couldn't believe it ”.
Laurent had been working with this experienced pilot for three months.
The Maïdo massif is one of the main tourist sites of the island.
About thirty firefighters and gendarmes were engaged in the rescue operations.
Their intervention was complicated by a strong wind and by the instability of the cliff, weakened by a major fire in November 2020. Several hours were needed to extricate the bodies of the victims and win them by helicopter.
The wind complicated the intervention of the helicopter of the PGHM, the High Mountain Gendarmerie Platoon, which had to bring down its teams in ropes.
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The investigation will determine if there was "a technical problem, a weather problem or a human problem", indicated Martin Perraudeau, the captain of the gendarmerie who supervised the operations.
Investigators from the air transport gendarmerie brigade do not rule out any leads.
"Witnesses saw the accident, the sky was clear, but cloudy with wind, these are parameters to be taken into account," remarks Captain Perraudeau of the Saint-Paul gendarmerie company at Réunion Première.
It is a well-known ULM club, reputed to be serious and a pilot who had experience.
It is too early to determine the causes of the tragedy ”.
The last crash involving a microlight in Reunion took place in 2015, also in the west of the island.
Two people, the pilot and his passenger, were killed.
