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Report nowAt the end of July, an airplane crashed into Lake Lucerne. Today, emergency services recovered the plane. blue News was on site.
The small plane that sank in Lake Lucerne on July 28 was recovered on Tuesday afternoon. The nose of the plane was stuck in the silt around one hundred meters below the surface.
In the morning, the emergency services first raised the plane to around 15 meters below the surface of the water. There it was brought into a horizontal position and stabilized. Divers then drilled holes in the plane underwater so that water could drain out of the plane.
On Tuesday afternoon, the plane was recovered from a depth of 100 meters.
Image: Feuerwehr Stadt Luzern
According to Martin Pohl, head investigator at the Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board (Sust), this was the biggest challenge of today's operation. "The aircraft has a pressurized cabin, so it is relatively airtight. If the water had not been able to flow out, parts could have broken off and fuel could have leaked out," he told the media on Tuesday afternoon.
The plane was then lifted out of the water with a crane and onto a ship and then taken away.
Martin Pohl, head of the investigation at Sust. Behind him the ship with the plane.
blue News
It is still unclear exactly why the emergency landing on the water took place. That was one of the reasons for today's salvage operation. "There is data in the aircraft that we can evaluate so that we can determine the flight path more precisely before the ditching," said Pohl. "The second reason is that it still had around 1000 liters of fuel in the plane." The salvage operation was intended to prevent environmental damage.
The aircraft, a Daher TBM-940, had taken off from Buochs NW towards Burg Feuerstein in Germany at the end of July. After a flight of only around three minutes, it crashed into the lake.
The two occupants of the plane were rescued by the Nidwalden cantonal police. The 78-year-old pilot survived the accident unharmed. The 55-year-old female passenger was injured and taken to hospital.
Aviation expert Hansjörg Egger told blue News after the crash that he could not imagine that the weather was responsible for the accident. He believes more in a technical failure or a stall.
The plane is now being dismantled so that it can be transported in a truck and then stored safely.
Around 100 people were involved in the salvage operation, said Pohl. He spoke of costs in the six-figure range. According to aviation law, this is paid for by the owner of the aircraft. However, according to Pohl, the owner is well insured, so Pohl assumes that the insurance company will cover the costs.
The aircraft appeared to be in relatively good condition when it was recovered. Pohl is therefore confident that precise data can be analyzed that will reveal more about the course of the accident. An initial investigation report is expected to be published in around a year's time.
The head of the investigation is satisfied with the recovery. "I was already convinced in the morning that it would work," said Pohl. A lot of time had been taken in advance and a precise plan had been developed before an attempt was made.
