Serious incident to the Cessna 172R registered F-HSNO operated by Alpines Airlines on 07/03/2024 at Courchevel
Take-off on a runway engaged by a snowplough, during a sightseing flight, in the mountains.
The pilot of the aeroplane took off while a snowplough was clearing snow from the edge of the runway. Given the configuration of the mountain airfield and the slope of the runway, the snowplough was not visible to the pilot from the runway threshold. The AFIS officer's attention was focused on the position of a helicopter in transit in order to avoid a dangerous loss of separation with the aeroplane taking off. The AFIS officer had forgotten about the presence of the snowplough and therefore did not inform the pilot of the aeroplane about the snowplough before he took off. The driver of the snowplough did not hear the take-off announcement on the radio frequency or the noise generated by the aeroplane during take-off.