Human remains have been found in the wreckage of a Cessna light aircraft missing in the North Sea off Shetland more than a year ago. Operating off of Peterhead, a fishing trawler headed northeast of Lerwick found a sizable portion of the aircraft’s fuselage.
On Sunday, Benarkle II, the trawler, brought the wreckage into port, and Police Scotland started an urgent investigation. This discovery comes more than 14 months after the plane flying from Denmark to Germany disappeared from radar.
Who is looking at the wreckage, and what have they discovered?
Police Scotland started investigating when the wreckage arrived at the port. The UK government agency, The Air Accidents Investigations Branch (AAIB), confirmed that the wreckage belonged to a Cessna 172 that had vanished between Shetland and Norway. Authorities emphasized that only the German national pilot, 62, was on board when the aircraft disappeared.
“We were told that a fishing vessel had recovered the remains of a German-registered Cessna 172, lost in the North Sea in September 2023, and brought to Shetland,” an AAIB spokesman said. “The Bundesstelle für Fluguntersuchung (BFU) of Germany first looked at the aircraft’s loss. Working with the BFU and Police Scotland, the AAIB is helping with their safety investigation.
What happened to the Cessna and the search effort?
After failing to return to Hamburg, Germany, as scheduled, the aircraft’s owner claimed it was missing on October 123. Norwegian Air Traffic Control noted the final known September 30e aircraft during a fast descent over the North Sea at 4:45 PM on September 30.
The Aviation Safety Network said the pilot had not filed a flight plan and had strayed from his intended path to Bayreuth, Germany. Rather, the pilot veered in the opposite direction, passed Denmark over the North Sea, and should have made radio contact with air traffic control.
Reports state that the pilot left alone after surprisingly telling his wife earlier that day she would not travel with him.
The Coastguard of the United Kingdom started an air-sea rescue mission once it seemed the aircraft had dropped into the sea. Despite great efforts, no plane trace could be found, and the search was finally called off.
What was discovered among the aircraft wreckage, and what comes next?
Police Scotland verified on Monday the recovery of human remains among aircraft wreckage. A police spokesman said, “Police got a report of a small aircraft having been retrieved from the sea in the North Sea, north-east of Lerwick, about 2:20 PM on Friday, December 6 6Sunday, December 8 airplane was brought to land, and human corpses were discovered within. Questions abound.
Now, the remains have been verified to be from the missing Cessna registered under Germany. German aviation safety authorities, the BFU, and the AAIB are working together on the inquiry to ascertain the cause of the disaster and offer closure to the pilot’s family.
As the inquiry continues, the finding of the wreckage has given vital fresh data that could enable the events preceding the aircraft’s disappearance and the last minutes over the North Sea to be compiled.
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