The preliminary report of the fatal crash of CS-AIG, a 1968 Alon A-2A Aircoupe, has now been published and can be found here: http://www.gpiaa.gov.pt/cs2.asp?idcat=2164 . It includes a photo of the wreckage.
As it is in Portuguese I have run it through a machine translation and tweaked it, to read as follows: On the afternoon of March 6, the owner of the aircraft, together with a friend, also a holder of a pilot's license, went to the farm ³Pinheiro e Cavaleiro², located in the parish of Ciborro, Montemor-o-Novo, where he kept the aircraft in a hangar near the farm strip there. The weather that day was quite cloudy with moderate winds from south to southeast, but with some improvements by mid-afternoon. Around 16:30 the aircraft took off on runway 31 for a local flight of an hour or so. By 18:30, the owner of the strip and friend of the pilot, surprised that they had not returned, went to the strip to see what was happening. He found the doors of the hangar open and the lack of an aircraft. He continued to search to the end of the strip and saw a white object in middle of the adjacent land, about 300m away, which seemed to be the wreckage of the plane. After confirming that it was the aircraft he informed the police and a patrol found the site of the destroyed aircraft and found the two occupants already dead. The aircraft was very badly damaged and in an inverted position with a fracture of the fuselage and the left wing, lying overturned on the back of the fuselage, while the engine was lying on the lower surface of the right wing. The cockpit was destroyed and the seats out of place. An initial inspection of the instrument panel and flight controls indicated that the aircraft was set for take-off and therefore, the accident probably had occurred immediately after the take-off, that is, at around 16:30. The same could be inferred from the testimony of the farm owner, who said that he not heard the noise of the aircraft pass; it is common for the pilot to return south shortly after take-off, which puts him on a route near to his residence. The damage to the propeller blades suggested a possible lack of traction at the time of the collision, with the set up also indicating a likely engine failure shortly after take-off, since engine controls were in the full power position. All these assumptions need to be confirmed by a thorough inspection of the engine and the fuel system to clarify the sequence of events, which at the same time will include a study of the behaviour of the aircraft, especially taking into account the meteorological factors, especially of the existence of a tailwind during the take-off and initial climb.² Mike [email protected] www.ercoupe.co.uk Alon A2 Aircoupe A-188 G-HARY --
