2022 Baltic Sea Cessna Citation crash
A Cessna 551 Citation II/SP, similar to the aircraft involved in the crash
Accident
Date4 September 2022 (2022-09-04)
17:31 (GMT)
SummaryCrashed into the sea; under investigation
SiteBaltic Sea near Gotland, Sweden, Ventspils Latvia approx. 37 km (23 mi; 20 nmi) off shoreline of Ventspils, Latvia
57°39′54″N 21°5′38.4″E / 57.66500°N 21.094000°E / 57.66500; 21.094000
Aircraft
Aircraft typeCessna 551 Citation II/SP[1]
OperatorGG Rent GmbH
RegistrationOE-FGR (OEFGR) / 440A99
Flight originJerez-La Parra Airport (XRY/LEJR), Spain
12:56 (GMT)
DestinationCologne Bonn Airport (CGN/EDDK), Germany
~15:50 (GMT)[2]
Passengers3
Crew1
Fatalities4
Survivors0

On 4 September 2022, a chartered Cessna 551 business jet registered in Austria was scheduled to fly from Jerez, Spain to Cologne, Germany. Early in the flight, after takeoff, the aircraft's pilot notified air traffic control about a cabin pressure malfunction. After the aircraft passed the Iberian Peninsula, no further contact could be established.[3][4]

The aircraft involved in this accident, registered as OE-FGR, was first flown in 1979.[5] The aircraft, which climbed to its assigned altitude at 36,000 feet (11,000 m), slightly turned near Paris and Cologne, where it failed to make a landing, and continued straight on its northeastern course, flying over Germany and then out for almost two hours and 1,120 kilometres (700 mi; 600 nmi) over the Baltic Sea near Denmark and Sweden. Fuel was eventually exhausted when the aircraft was over the Baltic Sea, approximately 37 kilometres (23 mi; 20 nmi) off Ventspils, Latvia, and crashed into the water in a spiral dive after an uncontrolled descent.[4][6]

According to news reports, contact with OE-FGR was lost shortly after takeoff from Jerez. According to the Flight Management System, the autopilot brought the aircraft up to 36,000 feet (11,000 m) and continued the journey via Poitiers, Paris, Luxembourg, and on to Euskirchen. In Euskirchen, the pilot apparently had planned to take over for final approach into Cologne (15:50 UTC). Since the pilot was apparently unconscious, the plane continued in a straight line for the next 1 hour 41 minutes (17:36 UTC) on a course of 54 degrees. The Cessna then started descending and turning to the right on a course of 116 degrees, seemingly headed for an approach at Ventspils International Airport. It is probable that instead the right engine failed and a change of course was initiated. About 3 minutes later (17:39 UTC), the left engine also failed, as OE-FGR continued to fly straight forward at 116 degrees before starting to lose speed and altitude (17:40 UTC), eventually crashing (17:42 UTC) in the Baltic Sea.

History of the flight

Flight path map

The aircraft, which was approved for operation with one pilot, took off from Jerez in southern Spain.[7] According to reports from Bild, the pilot reported a cabin pressure problem shortly before ATC contact was lost. The Cessna 551 Citation II was flying at 36,000 feet (11,000 m) at the time.[8][9] Shortly after its entry into French airspace, around 14:25 UTC, the Cessna was intercepted by one Dassault Rafale, scrambled from Mont-de Marsan air base. A second Rafale from Saint-Dizier air base took over the interception. The Cessna was continuously followed by the French Air Force until it reached Cologne, around 15:57 UTC, when the German Air Force took over.[10]

Two German Eurofighter Typhoon jets were scrambled from the Rostock-Laage air base at 16:15 GMT to contact the aircraft crew and were unsuccessful. Shortly after Rügen, the German fighter pilots broke away at 16:50 GMT.[7] The plane entered Swedish airspace, where it flew south of Gotland and on towards the Gulf of Riga.[1]

A Danish F-16 fighter took over the escort of the ghost flight. Later, the Danish Air Force said they could not see anybody in the cockpit after intercepting the plane.[7] The Danish jet pilots witnessed the plane going into a downward spiral and crashing 37 kilometres (23 mi; 20 nmi) off the shoreline of Latvia, far beyond the outer edge of the Latvian territorial sea, at around 17:45 GMT.[9]

Aircraft

The aircraft involved in the accident was a 43-year-old Cessna 551 Citation II built in 1979, with manufacturer serial number 551-0021, registered as OE-FGR. The aircraft was powered by two Pratt & Whitney JT15D-4 engines and did not have a flight data recorder.[11][12][5] Since July 2020, it was owned and operated by GG Rent.[5]

Passengers and crew

Reportedly, four people from Germany were on board: Karl-Peter Griesemann (who has been confirmed as the pilot of the aircraft), his wife Juliane, their daughter Lisa (who also carried a pilot's licence), and her boyfriend Paul.[13][14][15][16] Experts have proposed that the drop in pressure likely caused the pilot and passengers to lose consciousness, similar to the 1999 South Dakota Learjet crash, the 2000 Australia Beechcraft King Air crash,[17] and the Helios Airways Flight 522 crash. The aircraft's operator was GG Rent GmbH, based in Bergisch Gladbach, located to the east of Cologne, Germany.[18]

On 6 September, Mayor of Cologne Henriette Reker commented on the Griesemann family's misfortune and offered condolences.[19]

Aftermath

According to the Latvian Maritime and Air Rescue Centre, parts of the plane have been located. The Swedish Stena Line ferry Stena Urd was asked to help at the crash site.

Swedish and Lithuanian helicopters flew around the crash site for several hours but did not find any survivors or bodies, said Lars Antonsson at the Maritime and Air Rescue Centre.[20] Johan Ahlin from the Swedish Maritime Rescue Agency told SVT that the emergency services discovered traces of oil on the water and smaller pieces of debris.[7]

On 5 September, the search for the plane debris is underway in an area of about 6 by 6 kilometres (3.7 mi × 3.7 mi; 3.2 nmi × 3.2 nmi) where the sea depth is around 60 metres (200 ft).[21]

On 5 September, a total of 11 plane wreckage parts including seats had been found, and shortly before midnight, human remains were found and transported to Ventspils by the Latvian Naval Forces.[22][23][24][25]

On 8 September, further investigation of the accident was taken over by the German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation.[26]

Investigation

According to the provisional report, everyone on board the plane, including the pilot Griesemann, became unconscious shortly after asking a Spanish air traffic controller for permission to descend due to problems on board.

The aircraft continued to fly on autopilot until it exhausted all of its fuel and crashed into the Baltic Sea.[27]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Cessna 551 Citation II/SP OE-FGR Ventspils (Baltic Sea)". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
  2. ↑ LLC, Airnav Systems. "Follow flight OE-FGR on AirNav RadarBox". AirNav Radarbox. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
  3. ↑ Scheef, Af Manne (4 September 2022). "Privatfly styrtet i havet: Chancen for overlevende er minimal" [Private plane crashed into the sea: the chance for survivors is minimal]. ekstrabladet.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 4 September 2022.
  4. 1 2 Maszczynski, Mateusz (4 September 2022). "BREAKING: 'Ghost Plane' Crashes in the Baltic Sea After Running Out of Fuel". Paddle Your Own Kanoo. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
  5. 1 2 3 "OE-FGR Private Cessna 551, MSN 551-0021 | OneSpotter.com". OneSpotter.com | Plane Spotting, Photography, Aircraft Database. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  6. ↑ "Private Austrian 'ghost plane' crashes off Latvia". rte.ie. 4 September 2022.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Schmalz, Alexander (4 September 2022). "Privatjet stürzt nach "Geisterflug" durch halb Europa in die Ostsee" [After a "ghost flight" through half of Europe, a private jet crashes into the Baltic Sea]. Berliner Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 4 September 2022.
  8. ↑ "Mystery as private plane crashes into Baltic Sea". BBC News. 4 September 2022. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
  9. 1 2 "Flugzeug-Absturz in der Ostsee: Verlor der Pilot das Bewusstsein?" [Plane crash in the Baltic Sea: did the pilot lose consciousness?]. bild.de (in German). Retrieved 4 September 2022.
  10. ↑ "Les permanences opérationnelles française et allemande interceptent un CESSNA 551 avant un crash en mer Baltique" [French and German operational offices intercept a CESSNA 551 before a crash in the Baltic Sea] (PDF) (Press release) (in French). Paris: Ministry of Armed Forces. 4 September 2022.
  11. ↑ "Lidmašīnas katastrofas vietā Baltijas jūrā atrastas, iespējams, cilvēka ķermeņa daļas" [Possibly human body parts were found at the plane crash site in the Baltic Sea]. www.lsm.lv (in Latvian). Retrieved 7 September 2022.
  12. ↑ "AIRFRAMES.ORG - Aircraft Database - OEFGR". www.airframes.org. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  13. ↑ "Ett flygplan har störtat i Östersjön – befaras ha varit familj ombord" [An airplane has crashed in the Baltic Sea - it is feared that there was a family on board]. www.aftonbladet.se (in Swedish). 4 September 2022. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
  14. ↑ "In Österreich registrierter Privatjet über der Ostsee abgestürzt" [Private jet registered in Austria crashed over the Baltic Sea]. kurier.at (in German). 4 September 2022. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
  15. ↑ Sevilla, Diario de (4 September 2022). "El dueño de la empresa Quick Air y su familia son los fallecidos en el accidente de avión en el Báltico" [The owner of the Quick Air company and his family are those who died in the plane crash in the Baltic]. Diario de Sevilla (in European Spanish). Retrieved 5 September 2022.
  16. ↑ "Familie stürzt mit Cessna in die Ostsee: Das ist der Pilot" [Family crashes into the Baltic Sea with a Cessna: That's the pilot]. bild.de (in German). Retrieved 5 September 2022.
  17. ↑ Juan Brown (blancolirio) (4 September 2022). Loss of Pressurization Citation Crash Baltic Sea 4 Sept 2022 – via YouTube.
  18. ↑ Kaminski-Morrow, David (5 September 2022). "Radio-silent Citation II crashes in Baltic Sea after flying far beyond destination". Flight Global. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
  19. ↑ ""Große Bestürzung": Henriette Reker kondoliert Kölner Familie nach Cessna-Absturz" ["Great dismay" Henriette Reker condoles Cologne family after Cessna crash]. Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger (in German). 6 September 2022. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
  20. ↑ "Private Austrian 'ghost plane' crashes off Latvia". RTÉ.ie. Agence France-Presse; Reuters. 4 September 2022.
  21. ↑ "VIDEO | small private plane crashes not far from Ventspils; no survivors found yet". Baltic News Network - News from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia. 5 September 2022. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
  22. ↑ "Atrastas, iespējams, lidmašīnas katastrofā bojāgājušo ķermeņa daļas" [Body parts of those who may have died in the plane crash have been found]. Liepajniekiem (in Latvian). LETA. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
  23. ↑ "Blaue-Funken-Funktionär verunglückt: Menschliche Überreste an Absturzstelle gefunden" [Blue Sparks official killed: Human remains found at crash site]. Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger (in German). 6 September 2022. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
  24. ↑ "Flugzeugabsturz Ostsee: Pilot war Peter Griesemann – menschliche Körperteile gefunden" [Baltic Sea plane crash: the pilot was Peter Griesemann – human body parts found]. www.24rhein.de (in German). Retrieved 6 September 2022.
  25. ↑ "Flugzeugabsturz Ostsee: Pilot war bekannter Kölner Karnevalist – Körperteile entdeckt" [Plane crash in the Baltic Sea: the pilot was a well-known Cologne carnivalist – body parts discovered]. www.merkur.de (in German). Retrieved 6 September 2022.
  26. ↑ "Parts of crashed plane's body and personal belongings of deceased have been identified in seabed with help of robot". baltictimes.com. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  27. ↑ "Informe oficial: los Griesemann fallecieron por la falta de oxígeno tras la despresurización de la cabina" (in Spanish). 6 January 2023.
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