Crash of a Cessna 425 into Lake Constance
| Crash of a Cessna 425 into Lake Constance | |
|---|---|
 A Cessna 425 similar to the aircraft involved in the accident |
|
| Accident summary | |
| Accident type | crash |
| place | Lake Constance |
| date | January 24, 1994 |
| Fatalities | 5 |
| Survivors | 0 (2 missing) |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Cessna 425 |
| operator | Aerowest Flight Center Braunschweig |
| Mark | D-IEFW |
| Departure airport | Prague-Ruzyně Airport |
| Destination airport | St. Gallen-Altenrhein Airport |
| Passengers | 4th |
| crew | 1 |
| Lists of aviation accidents | |
When a Cessna 425 crashed into Lake Constance on January 24, 1994, five people died. The charter plane crashed into Lake Constance while approaching St. Gallen-Altenrhein . The crash is notable for the alleged involvement of the passengers in the arms trade .
background
On board the Cessna 425 were the pilot Rudi Wierschem, the Berlin businessmen Josef Rimmele and Klaus Eichler, two barmaids and a dog. Rimmele and Eichler chartered the machine for a flight from Prague to Paris with a stopover in Altenrhein. There was an arrest warrant against Rimmele in Germany for building fraud and tax offenses. Both businessmen were under police surveillance for their involvement in arms and radioactive material trafficking.
crash
 
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Approximate crash site |
On January 24, the aircraft was approaching the Altenrhein airfield. After the machine disappeared from the radar screen, a rescue operation was initiated immediately. Due to the adverse weather conditions, it was only possible to search for the machine and the occupants to a limited extent in the first two days; on the following two days, the search had to be completely stopped due to strong winds. The machine was only located a good week after the crash. A diving robot was used in the search . The machine was recovered on February 8, 1994 from the manned research submersible Jago from a depth of 159 meters. Despite an intensive search, only the bodies of three of the five inmates were found: the pilot, one of the two women and the dog remained missing. According to the responsible authorities, the inmates had no chance of survival in the cold water.
The examinations revealed that the landing flaps were completely retracted. This is unusual for a planned landing or an imminent ditching . The public prosecutor's office therefore assumed a pilot error.
The German aircraft accident investigation office entrusted with the investigation did not prepare an accident report.
Suspected smuggling
Rimmele and Eichler had previously been under police surveillance in Germany and Switzerland. They had contacts with arms dealers in Riga , Latvia and with an intermediary in Liechtenstein who was known to the secret services. At the end of 1993, Eichler was held captive by his Lithuanian partners because of a payment dispute. Rimmele organized a liberation campaign with former bodyguards of the GDR leadership. As a result, travel activities between Riga, Prague, Switzerland, Paris and China were observed.
The biography of the two Berlin businessmen led the authorities to suspect that the machine might have carried radioactive material. After the recovery, this turned out to be incorrect. However, the public was concerned because Lake Constance is a drinking water reservoir and the Rhine Valley is heavily populated. There have been reports of a link between Eastern European arms suppliers and Chinese buyers, as well as an impending deal.
Media coverage
The media coverage was unusual for the crash of a small plane and corresponded to that of a major event. According to the Swiss police, over 100 members of the press were present to report on the search, recovery and the situation on site. The German newspaper Bild ran the headline “Atomic dealer of the Russian mafia” and speculated about “70 kilos of atom in Lake Constance?”. Since those involved had previously become known through the smuggling of the non-radioactive cesium -133, a possible confusion with the radiating cesium-137 led to this media response.
Further suspicions were made that those involved intentionally caused the accident in order to evade prosecution. The discovery of three of the five inmates refuted these speculations.
Web links
- Accident report Cessna 425 D-IEFW. Aviation Safety Network WikiBase , accessed October 10, 2017.
- Everyone gets down on their knees. In: Der Spiegel , Volume 6/1994, Pages 76-79, accessed on October 12, 2017.
- Rumor about a nuclear plane in Lake Constance. In SWR Aktuell , headlines 25 years ago, January 29, 2019.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Atomic detonator on board? In: Focus Online . ( focus.de [accessed on October 9, 2017]).
- ↑ a b c Everyone kneels down . In: Der Spiegel . tape February 6 , 1994 ( spiegel.de [accessed October 9, 2017]).
- ↑ No radiation . In: New Germany . ( neue-deutschland.de [accessed on October 12, 2017]).
- ↑ a b sda / lehs: 20 years after the Cessna crash: A unique Lake Constance crime thriller . In: Swiss Radio and Television (SRF) . ( srf.ch [accessed on October 9, 2017]).
- ↑ a b “Not like that for God's sake” . In: Der Spiegel . tape 7 , February 14, 1994 ( spiegel.de [accessed October 9, 2017]).
- ↑ File number 3x016-94
- ↑ Plane is lifted from lake, but mystery remains. In: DeseretNews.com . February 14, 1994 ( deseretnews.com [accessed October 9, 2017]).
- ^ "Cesium plane" found in Swiss lake . In: The Independent . February 3, 1994 ( independent.co.uk [accessed October 9, 2017]).
- ↑ Focus Online: Weird Birds . In: FOCUS Online . ( focus.de [accessed on October 12, 2017]).
- ^ Nuclear fears add to plane mystery . In: The Independent . February 11, 1994 ( independent.co.uk [accessed October 12, 2017]).
- ↑ Lutz Sehnedelbach: Identity of the aircraft occupants not clarified / Mysterious call to the editorial office Cessna pilot tried classic "ditching": unsuccessful search for the passengers . In: Berliner Zeitung . ( berliner-zeitung.de [accessed on October 12, 2017]).