Tragedy in Switzerland. 20 dead and a rare aircraft destroyed.

[dodgy-alan 1,587]

Thoughts go out to all those involved in the accident.  

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-45076060

[allardjd 1,853]

I've been following this on PPRUNE.  Not too much known yet.  It appears to be a relatively high-angle, high-speed (for a Ju-52) impact.  The terrain was at a fairly high altitude and sloped with some big rocks around.  It's been characterized as flat enough that a forced landing attempt might have been possible, but that doesn't seem to have been what happened.  WX was VMC but wind may have been about 35 km/hr.

 

There's some speculation about some kind of failure causing a stall or other loss of control.  A photo taken sometime just before the crash shows what might be a smoke trail behind the AC and the relative angles of the AC and the smoke suggest the AC is stalled or very near it.  On the other hand, it's not crystal clear that it is smoke - it could equally well be a feature of the mountain ridge behind it.  Smoke, maybe, but no gun.

 

There's also a mountain peak nearby, "Martins---" something or other with a famous rock "window" and it's thought that they might have been trying to get lined up to get their pax a view of it.  

 

Another thought that others have expressed is a "rotor" or "mountain" wave from a brisk wind over a ridge line causing an area of severe downdrafts on the downwind side.  It's a well known phenomena of mountain flying but the crew were reportedly pretty experienced, both with the AC and the route.

 

Oddly, I don't have a favored theory yet.  

 

RIP to all the pax and crew.  This was supposedly the return leg of an overnight excursion to somewhere in Italy.

 

John

[brett 2,316]

Sad news indeed, thoughts and prayers to all involved and their families.

 

They must have been close to the ground because one would think with a high speed and vertical descent there would be nothing left.

[allardjd 1,853]

I don't think they really mean vertical and high speed for a Ju-52 isn't all that fast. 

 

I think the "...high-speed, high-angle..." terminology in this case is just meant to distinguish between a hard forced landing gone wrong and a collision with Mother Earth.  This appears to have been the latter to the first investigators on the scene.

 

Also, the Ju-52 fuselage is only a little less robust than a Sherman tank.

 

John