Accident to the Piper PA28 registered F-GMSE on 28/06/2019 at Île d’Yeu (Vendée)

Four people, including three pilots who held the class rating and were members of the club, set off together, as they do every year, for pleasure flights from Dunkerque Les Moeres aerodrome (Nord). The pilot in the right-hand seat was also an instructor and advised the other pilots when he detected significant in-flight deviations.

The day before the accident, the instructor carried out a landing gear emergency extension due to a partial visual indication of the landing gear being down (nose gear light off). The landing gear emergency extension actions were performed from memory based on a procedure from an aircraft he was used to flying. These actions were also interrupted. The landing was probably completed with the landing gear selector switch in the UP position and with the landing gear circuit breaker tripped.

On the day of the accident, the take-off was conducted with the landing gear selector switch in the UP position and the landing gear circuit breaker engaged. The landing gear retracted as soon as the landing gear struts were no longer compressed by the weight of the aircraft.