Aircraft accident at the YOU 1996 youth fair in Dortmund

Aircraft accident at the YOU 1996 youth fair
Memorial stone for the victims
Accident summary
Accident type	CFIT
place	Area near the Westfalenhallen
date	June 6, 1996
Fatalities	13
Survivors	1
Injured	1
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Bell UH-1D
operator	air force
Departure airport	Area near the Westfalenhallen
Passengers	12
crew	2
Lists of aviation accidents

The aircraft accident at the YOU youth fair occurred on June 6, 1996 during the European youth fair YOU in Dortmund . A Bell UH-1D of the readiness for flight of the Federal Ministry of Defense crashed during a show flight in a forest area. Of the 14 inmates, 13 were killed. The accident is considered to be the worst helicopter accident in the history of the Bundeswehr to date.

Course of events

YOU, which is now the largest European youth fair, was held for the first time in the year of the accident. While the fair is now also taking place in Berlin , the venue at that time was the area around the Dortmund Westfalenhallen .

On Corpus Christi day 1996, the opening day of the event, public flights with a Bell UH-1D aircraft were offered by the flight readiness of the Federal Ministry of Defense and some of the places for these sightseeing flights were raffled off during the fair. At the time of the accident, the machine was manned by three soldiers, five journalists and six trade fair visitors. Originally, the then Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Claudia Nolte, was supposed to be on board the plane, but she was delayed. After the sightseeing flight started at around 12:00 p.m., the aircraft involved in an interception first came into contact with the runners and then the rotor blades with the treetops, got out of control and crashed in the Kirchhörde district near the Bundesautobahn 45 into the Großholthausener Mark forest area. After the only survivor of the crash, the tour manager of the Swiss singer DJ Bobo , was freed from the wreck by first responders, the machine exploded.

Victim

According to the Dortmund public prosecutor, the victims of the accident were between 17 and 48 years old and came from Dortmund, Unna, Waltrop, Essen, Recklinghausen and Duisburg. One of the victims was a Swiss citizen. The two pilots were stationed in Cologne.

Reactions

A concert planned on the day of the accident on the exhibition grounds was canceled, but the event was continued after a decision by the organizers and exhibitors. The television broadcaster Sat.1 , which was one of the largest exhibitors at YOU, stopped its trade fair activities after the accident. There was a minute's silence on the site 24 hours after the crash.

On June 12, 1996, an ecumenical memorial service for the victims of the crash took place in Dortmund, which was attended by the then Federal Defense Minister Volker Rühe as well as members of the North Rhine-Westphalian state government.

Cause of accident

According to the only survivor, the pilot wanted to demonstrate some daring flight maneuvers to his passengers, first pulling the machine up steeply in order to make it fall back down again immediately. The pilot lost control of the aircraft. After the Ministry of Defense initially ruled out the pilot's guilt, the survivor's description was ultimately confirmed by the investigation report. After the accident, the Bundeswehr took over the funeral costs and paid a flat rate of 40,000 marks for each death.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Strong hitting . In: Der Spiegel . No. 24 , 1996 ( online ).
2. ↑ History of the Air Force - 1996
3. ↑ ^{a b} Did flight maneuvers cause the crash? rhein-zeitung.de, June 8, 1996, accessed January 26, 2011 . 
4. ↑ Bundeswehr advertising: pilot was reckless focus.de, accessed on January 26, 2011 . 
5. ↑ ^{a b} Mother couldn't cope with the death of her daughter: After a helicopter crash at "YOU": Father complains. rp-online.de, accessed on January 26, 2011 . 
6. ↑ Annual review 1996 on nahraum.de ( Memento from February 11, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )

Coordinates: 51 ° 26 '  N , 7 ° 27'  E