Date:	Saturday 5 May 2012
Time:	16:50 LT
Type:	Piper PA-25-235 Pawnee D
Owner/operator:	Association Aéronautique du Val d'Essonne - AAVE
Registration:	F-GHSH
MSN:	25-7656044
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Other fatalities:	2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Category:	Accident
Location:	Near Buno-Bonnevaux Airfield - LFFB -   France
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Banner and glider towing
Departure airport:	Buno-Bonnevaux Airfield (LFFB)
Destination airport:	Buno-Bonnevaux Airfield (LFFB)
Investigating agency:	BEA
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
A Piper PA-25-235 Pawnee D glider towing plane (F-GHSH) was returning to the Buno-Bonnevaux Airfield (LFFB) after releasing a glider. The airplane collided with a Slingsby T.31B Cadet TX.3 (BGA4926) that had been launched by a winch four minutes earlier.
Both planes crashed, killing the pilot of the towing plane and both occupants of the glider.
The collision occurred at an altitude of 250 m.

Causes
The collision was due to the failure of both pilots to detect the other aircraft visually, in uncontrolled airspace where collision-avoidance depends entirely on external vigilance. It appears that neither of the two was aware of the possible presence of another aircraft nearby.
The following contributing factors were identified:
- the absence of air-to-air communication by the pilots of both aircraft, although the two aircraft were flying on unpublished flight paths at a low height;
- the glider’s manoeuvres near the aerodrome, at a height lower than the height to integrate the circuit;
- the specific configuration of this aerodrome with crossing runways used simultaneously;
- the unusual operations at this aerodrome due to the temporary installation of the winch, its influence on the aerodrome traffic and on the activity of tug aircraft;
the absence of any rules relating to the simultaneous use of the winch and of tug aircraft;
- a possible decrease in attention of all of the participants at the end of the afternoon after a week of intense activity linked to the championship.

http://www.bea.aero/fr/enquetes/2012/2012.semaine.18.pdf

http://web.archive.org/web/20120528021218/http://www.liberation.fr/depeches/2012/05/05/trois-morts-dans-un-accident-de-planeur-dans-l-essonne_816648
https://www.alvinet.com/similaires/essonne-3-morts-dans-un-accident-de-planeur/12708622
https://policeetrealites.com/2012/05/05/essonne-trois-morts-dans-une-collision-entre-un-avion-et-un-planeur/
http://www.leparisien.fr/buno-bonnevaux-91720/emotion-apres-la-collision-mortelle-a-buno-bonnevaux-07-05-2012-1988696.php

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
05-May-2012 13:13	karyan70	Added
05-May-2012 13:18	harro	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Phase, Narrative]
06-May-2012 00:18	Alpine Flight	Updated [Time, Registration, Location, Nature, Source, Narrative]
07-May-2012 04:05	harro	Updated [Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative]
07-May-2012 11:08	Dmitriy	Updated [Aircraft type, Source]
11-May-2012 12:23	Anon.	Updated [Registration]
11-May-2012 12:50	harro	Updated [Cn, Operator, Source, Narrative]
12-May-2012 00:58	Alpine Flight	Updated [Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport]
17-May-2020 08:09	RobertMB	Updated [Aircraft type, Narrative]
14-Mar-2024 12:17	ASN	Updated [Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative, Accident report]