A Cessna-152 light aircraft made an emergency landing on S. João da Caparica beach, Almada, just to the south of Lisbon, killing two people, one of them was an 8-year-old girl. The captain of the port of Lisbon confirmed the other death was of a 56-year-old man
The two occupants of the aircraft needed no medical care and have been detained for questioning by the Maritime Police, according to Paulo Isabel, the port captain.
The Judicial Police service is standing by but will only intervene if the Public Prosecutor's Office asks it to.
The area of the beach where the accident happened is sectioned off and the light aircraft will be examined by aviation experts before being removed.
According to Paulo Isabel, the "reports indicate that the plane slowly approached the ground, noislessly" with the possibility that there had been a mechanical failure. This hypothesis is being investigated by the Office of Prevention and Investigation of Accidents.
The Cessna appeared to be in difficulty skimmed low over sunbathers, scattering them and causing panic, said witnesses.
The dead girl was with on the beach with her parents, who were unhurt, witnesses told local television reporters. The light aircraft ran over the dead man's legs as he sunbathed causing fatal injuries. The bodies lay covered on the sand as police cordoned off the area.
The aircraft was being used for a training flight, with two members on board, a man of about 30 and another, 56.
A witness saw a seemingly uncontrolled light aircraft coming toward the beach. It landed on the wet sand and hit two people.
The private plane belongs to the Aeroclube of Torres Vedras but had been used for years by the G-air Aviation School, according to the commander of Aeroclube João Carlos Francisco.
The commander assured the police that the plane was fully compliant and that this was a training flight with a "very experienced instructor" who will have taken control at the first sign of trouble.
A Civil Protection spokeswoman, Patrícia Gaspar, told an Observador reporter that the alert was received at 4:15 pm and that Civil Protection immediately responded to what it is calling an ‘air crash.’
The Office for the Prevention and Investigation of Aircraft Accidents confirms that it has been informed of the accident and already have sent personnel to the site to investigate the causes.
See: https://youtu.be/IKi4qrv3u_M
Comments
I expect options were limited, certainly consideration should have been given to not risking a crash which might cause a wild fire. The glide angle of a Cessna is not good and the beach or sea would have been the only option.
A landing on the sea risked serious injury to the crew, although based on the outcome was morally preferable. God forbid I'd ever need to make that choice.
Looking at the state of the aircraft here makes me wonder whether this instructor got his priorities wrong !!