What: Piper PA-32-301 Saratoga
Robin DR.400/180 Regent
Where: Near Wölfersheim, Hessen
When: Dec 8 2012
Who: 5 + 3 fatalities
Why: A Piper PA-32-301 Saratoga (D-EUEU) and a Robin DR.400 (D-EHJP) both crashed following a mid-air collision near Wölfersheim, Hessen, Germany. All five occupants of the Saratoga and all three aboard the DR.400 were killed. Four adults and four children.
Shortly after 2 pm Saturday when it was still daylight, the two small planes collided in the air over Wölfersheim-Melbach and Dorheim. Police, fire and rescue services were up all night in freezing temperatures, hampered by falling snow while recovering the fatalities and processing the scene.
The debris field is described as huge, crossing two adjacent fields near the village of Melbach and a couple of meters from the Reichelsheim airfield.
Two adults and three children were on the Piper Saratoga to Aschaffenburg. Two adults and a child were in the Robin.
The federal Office of Aircraft Accidents Investigation will be investigating. Witnesses who may have observed the collision at Wölfersheim on Saturday afternoon are being asked to call 06031 – Report to 6010.
Air Berlin flight AB-6048 had to divert and make a safe emergency landing at Cologne Bonn Airport, Cologne, Germany, on July 15th.
Ryanair flight FR-4164 had to divert and make an emergency landing in Munich, Germany, on April 4th.