Five dead in the collision of a microlight and a private plane over Loches, Indre-et-Loire, France

Five people died on Saturday afternoon in the collision of an Alpi Pioneer 300 (37AHH) microlight carrying two people with a Robin DR.400/140 Major (F-BXEU) tourist plane carrying three, in Loches (Indre-et-Loire)

“A small ULM carrying two people and a DA40 tourist plane carrying three people collided around 16:30, the first landing on the fence of a house in Loches, without causing any additional victim, the second at several hundred metres in an uninhabited area,” Nadia Seghier, secretary-general of the prefecture of Indre-et-Loire, told AFP. “The five people involved are dead.”

The microlight took off from Châtellerault (Vienne) at 15.15, and the Robin DR 400 aircraft from Poitiers at 15.00.

About 50 firefighters went to the site as well as about 30 gendarmes to set up road detours.

The identity of the victims and the reasons for the collapse are still unknown. The male pilot of the microlight was 66 and his female passenger 50. The male pilot of the plane was 75 and his two female passengers 30 and 28. It was later disclosed that the pilot of the plane was the president of the ASPTT flying club of Poitiers, Michel Loubignac. “It was a discovery flight allowing people from outside the club to board. They had to fly over four Loire Valley castles and return to Poitiers. The pilot was very experienced“, said a spokesman for the flying club.

The occupants of the house on which the ULM crashed were not there at the time of the accident. It is a residential area bordered by a busy road, south of the city centre.

Sources: AFP, France Bleu and Aviation Safety Network