Accident to the Robin DR400 registered F-GBUY on 18/11/2022 at Couhé-Vérac

At the end of a local flight, the pilot and her passenger flew back towards their departure aerodrome to land, while a rain disturbance was moving towards the aerodrome. The pilot made a left-hand circuit from the east, which is normally the indicated circuit for microlights, probably to avoid the shower coming from the north-west.

Despite this, the aeroplane probably flew through the curtain of rain during the aerodrome circuit. The pilot’s acquisition of external visual references was thus impaired and the final approach path was offset to the extended runway.

The path followed by the pilot on final would have been into the sun. The investigation was unable to determine whether the sun was masked by clouds at that point or whether it may have hindered the pilot’s vision.

It is possible that a go-around was initiated at very low height, but too late to avoid collision with the trees.