Accident to the Beech 18S registered F–AZEJ on 11/09/2021 at Melun Villaroche
Perte de contrôle au décollage par conditions de vent arrière, sortie latérale de piste, au cours d’un vol en formation en manifestation aérienne
The pilot, accompanied by a safety pilot, was carrying out a demonstration flight at a major air show. He took off from runway 01 with an estimated tailwind component of 7 to 8 kt shortly after a formation of seven T6s.
The decision of the T6 pilots to take off from runway 01 may have encouraged the Beech 18 pilot not to take off from runway 28, which was longer, and to take off in tailwind conditions that he had little experience of, and in which the Beech 18 was known to be difficult to control.
The disturbance resulting from the wake vortices of the T6s and from the blasts of their propellers, combined with the disturbance due to the tailwind component, may have taken the pilot by surprise during the rotation and may have been the cause of the aeroplane’s destabilisation. The pilot was unable to regain control of the aeroplane and the safety pilot aborted the take-off. This action caused a runway veer-off, but mitigated the consequences of the loss of control.