French investigators believe a Cessna 208 pilot, under psychological pressure, deliberately flew the aircraft into a mountain ridge while returning to Gap-Tallard airport after a parachute drop.
The pilot, the only occupant, did not survive the October 2023 collision with the ridge, which rises to some 1,400m in the French Alps.
Investigation authority BEA found the pilot had previously attempted suicide, about a year before, while experiencing marital difficulty. This resulted in temporary suspension of his medical certification.
After the pilot underwent psychological assessment, the certification was reinstated in March 2023, and he resumed work at the Skydive Center, on a part-time basis, the following month.
But the inquiry learned through testimony that the pilot’s marital relationship deteriorated and that, in the days before the accident, he and his wife had separated.
He had taken sick leave on 14 October 2023, the day prior to the crash, but chose to return on 15 October despite being given the option of time off.
BEA says the pilot conducted four parachute-drop flights before refuelling, then embarked on another series of four flights.
As he returned from the second of these subsequent flights – his sixth flight of the day – and after descending from around 14,000ft to 6,400ft to join the final approach path, the aircraft suddenly deviated to the right.
It descended on a southwest heading, in a straight line, colliding head-on with the ridge near a peak known as Crigne.
“There was no communication from the pilot indicating a technical problem or emergency situation,” says BEA, adding that the pilot’s voice had a “change of intonation” during a final transmission to the parachuting activity ground manager.
The inquiry was informed that the pilot had been distressed by the marital separation, and had also been affected by language problems while trying to obtain an instrument-rating qualification in September-October 2023.
BEA states that, in the absence of evidence for other causes, the Cessna’s deviation from the inbound circuit and collision with terrain is compatible with a sudden and impulsive “deliberate manoeuvre”.
