Cessna 208 Caravan heavily damaged after failed landing at Moorsele military airfield, Belgium

The pilot of a Cessna 208 Caravan failed his landing at the military airfield of Moorsele, Belgium on Saturday evening around 19:00 (UTC +2). The pilot landed on his nose wheel first in a field next to the runway, and a loud bang was heard around the airfield. Miraculously, he was barely injured.

The entire Saturday, the Skydive Flanders club had been skydiving. The pilot just performed his last flight as he had just dropped a number of skydivers before returning to Moorsele airport. The landing, however, went horribly wrong: the aircraft touched down too early and ended up in the adjacent field.

“Fortunately, the pilot was able to get out of the plane himself,” says Frederik Vrommand of the skydivers club to Belgian daily Het Laatste Nieuws. It is not yet entirely clear how the accident could have happened: the pilot may have been surprised by the sun which was low in the sky. As a precaution, the pilot was taken to a hospital.

“He is a very experienced pilot”, says Frederik. “To perform skydiver drops, you have to be very experienced anyway, because that is a difficult discipline. Fortunately, there were no casualties.”

Picture and source: Piloot als bij wonder amper gewond bij mislukte landing: vliegtuig wel zwaar beschadigd.