DPM/ULM crash in EBIS (Isières)

[Devon Rex]

Hi,

Just witnessed the crash-scene of a ULM/DPM at Isières (@approx 19:00). Police just arrived, Firefighters and Ambulance already at the site. One of them putting at least one white blanket on the ground... not sure if it was to cover a body (was 100m from where I passed, so I can be wrong).

No more details for now...

Björn

[Devon Rex]

Got confirmed now:

http://www.lavenir.net/article/detail.a ... 7_00357429

http://www.sudinfo.be/802604/article/re ... 4-h-en-cou

[airazurxtror]

Flying an ULM does not seem to be the safest way to fly ... Crashes are not uncommon and often are fatal.

[jan_olieslagers]

Do you have any statistics to support that opinion?
Hours flown per annum, number of incidents, number of accidents, number of fatalities?
The first element will have to be estimated, with no hope of accuracy.

An ultralight pilot myself, I consider ULM flying no more dangerous than diving or motorcycling. I am not even sure microlights are any more dangerous than certified planes.

But of course, one can avoid all risk and never come out of bed, and die of boredom at the age of 97 or so, the last 15 years spent in dementia... To each their own!

[teddybAIR]

Hi Jan,

I'm also in favor of looking at those statistics as objective as possible. For an outsider, however, I can understand that the recent succession of fatal ULM accidents covered in the media feeds the perception that ULM flying is a relatively unsafe venture. I'm not knowledgeable enough on the subject to draw any conclusions.

My opinion is that the most determining factor is not the weight category of the airplane, but rather the safety attitude of the pilot that determines safety levels of individual flights. Small example: This weekend I had an uncomfortably close encounter between EBAW and EBBR CTR's with opposite traffic heading East that was not listening out on Brussels Info...I don't know what drives a pilot to fly through such a narrow corridor, well known for rather dense VFR traffic that has to pass a bottleneck in terms of possible lateral and vertical separation without even bothering to listen out on Brussels Info. All I could do in this case was to choose an uncommon cruising level, switch on my landing light, report my altitude and QNH setting on Brussels Info and keep looking out for the other traffic.

[airazurxtror]

http://www.lavenir.net/article/detail.a ... 9_00357656
Extracts :
Samedi en fin d’après-midi un appareil ultra léger motorisé (ULM) s’est écrasé à quelques centaines de mètres de l’ulmodrome d’Isières, non loin de la Dendre. Aux commandes de l’ULM se trouvait Jacky Dernoncourt, un pilote chevronné. Lui et son passager ont été tués sur le coup.
Le drame est survenu vers 18h30, à la hauteur du chemin de la Tourette. L’appareil s’est écrasé au sol alors qu’il allait vraisemblablement atterrir, à l’issue d’un vol s’étant déroulé normalement.
Jacky Dernoncourt était un pilote chevronné. Son appareil avait fait l’objet d’une récente révision complète; le pilote lui-même nous l’avait expliqué voilà quelques jours.
Selon certains témoignages, le moteur de l’ULM tournait toujours au moment où il s’est écrasé. Y a-t-il eu une avarie au niveau de l’aile? Les images prises pendant le vol par le passager pourraient peut-être fournir des éléments de réponse aux enquêteurs.

[Passenger]

On 9th October 2014, the Belgian AAIU has published its final report (in English):

http://www.mobilit.belgium.be/nl/binari ... 256967.pdf

(pdf 2,3 Mb)