According to our information, the emergency services were notified at 12 noon. The first testimonies collected by the gendarmes suggest that the aircraft would have tried to land on the edge of the Tamniès pond, near the bodies of water bordering the Turançon stream. But for some unknown reason, the helicopter ended up in a pond.
Luckily, the two occupants were only slightly injured in the impact and were able to extract themselves on their own, taking advantage of the fact that the pond is shallow. It is a 57-year-old man (the pilot) and his 52-year-old wife. Both were taken to Sarlat hospital for check-ups.
“Sud Ouest” questioned pilots, who shelled out the hypotheses: the pilot could have misjudged the trajectory or had been the victim of a gale, icing or engine failure. Nevertheless, in the environment close to the heliclub, it is rumored that the pilot was training to practice on the dyke, and that following a lack of control, he would have landed too far back, his helicopter then sliding towards the pond.
The gendarmes cordoned off the area of the accident.
” South West “
The cause of the crash
So many leads that will be studied by the air transport gendarmerie brigade, from Bordeaux, which is in charge of the investigation.
An experienced pilot congratulates himself anonymously: “They saved their lives, that’s good. Besides, they didn’t hurt anyone when they landed. The main thing is there. »
This photo shows the device that crashed into the pond.
Périgord heliclub
In the accident, the helicopter nevertheless appears to have been destroyed. It is a Robinson 44 two-seater Cadet. It was the last device in flying condition of the Périgord heliclub. Because for the association of Saint-Crépin-et-Carlucet, it is a black series: two members had lost their lives, on January 6, in a crash which occurred in Puy-de-Dôme. Their aircraft, again a Robinson 44, had been totally destroyed.