Rescuers are still searching for debris. Almost nothing is left of the Piaggio P.180 Avanti. Shortly before landing in Costa Rica on Friday, the plane suddenly lost altitude and eventually plunged into the sea.
On board the plane: entrepreneur and McFit founder Rainer Schaller (53) with his family, a Valais pilot (66) and another German. Over the weekend, search teams found wreckage and the bodies of an adult and a child.
It is not yet clear how the tragedy could have happened. The private plane did not have a flight recorder or a device to record communications. Due to the small size of the planes, they were not mandatory, according to the Costa Rican authorities.
The aircraft has an “excellent safety record”
Communications were lost as the plane approached Limón airport on the Caribbean coast by sea, the security ministry said. “The plane disappeared from radar about 40 kilometers from Limón airport,” said Fernando Naranjo, director of the civil aviation authority. At no time did the pilot report difficulties in contacting the air traffic controllers. Now it’s time to find the hull of the machine to advance the investigation into the cause of the crash.
The Piaggio P.180 Avanti is considered an efficient aircraft. Lots of horsepower, a large range and low consumption. The machine has an “excellent safety record,” flight safety adviser Arthur Bayuk told Bild. However, like other aircraft, the aircraft has a weakness. Unlike scheduled flights, there is only one pilot in the cockpit. Two pilots are needed there.
By comparison, flights with a pilot are 300 percent more dangerous, Bayuk explains. “The first descent was controlled. Later, the individual pilot was probably overwhelmed.” Experts currently believe that there may have been a technical problem before the crash. The Walliser pilot would have been alone.
Ghost Cessna crashed into the Baltic Sea
A German businessman and his family only crashed in September. Peter G.* (72), his wife Juliane G.* (69), their daughter Lisa G.* (26) and her partner (27) crashed into the Baltic Sea with a Cessna 551. Here too, there was only one pilot in the cockpit, Peter G. himself.
Actually, the plane should have landed in Cologne. Instead, the machine flew on and crashed over the Baltic Sea with an empty tank. The cause of the disaster is said to have been a loss of pressure in the machine. Pilot Peter G. reported pressure equalization problems shortly after takeoff. 50 minutes later, Spanish air traffic control tried to radio the pilot but received no response. (jmh/AFP)
* Names known