German-registered PC-6 appears to have come down just after take-off from airport near Nancy.
French transport minister Philippe Tabarot states that 11 fatalities resulted from a skydiving aircraft crash in the northeast of the country.
Tabarot says the accident occurred near Tomblaine — in the vicinity of the city of Nancy — on 28 June.
“The human toll is particularly heavy,” he states, adding that he is travelling to the scene with interior minister Laurent Nunez.
French investigation authority BEA identifies the airframe involved as a Pilatus PC-6 bearing the German registration D-FIPS. It has sent inspectors to the site.
The prefecture of Meurthe-et-Moselle states that the civil aircraft took off from Nancy-Essey airport.
Provisional data suggests the aircraft took off from an intersection at the midpoint of runway 21, having landed just a few minutes earlier.
It then immediately entered a left turn and came down next to the Rocade Sud-Est highway.
Tomblaine mayor Herve Feron told journalists that the aircraft “was climbing” but suddenly crashed.
“It’s much to early to try to find explanations,” he says, adding that the aircraft came down near a cycle path, but no residential buildings were hit and there was no collateral damage.
Meteorological data from Nancy for the time of the accident, about 11:00, indicates an air temperature of 33°C — France has been experiencing unusually warm weather for several days — but no adverse conditions.
This accident comes just two weeks after a skydiving aircraft crash in Missouri, which also occurred almost immediately after take-off.
The post Eleven fatalities after skydiving aircraft crashes in eastern France first appeared on FlightGlobal.