Date:	Friday 26 August 1966
Time:	17:05
Type:	Piper J3C Cub
Owner/operator:	Aeroclub Suisse, Section Valais
Registration:	HB-OAV
MSN:	12868
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 2
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Category:	Accident
Location:	Sitten/Airport -   Switzerland
Phase:	Take off
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	LSGS/SIR
Destination airport:	LSGS/SIR
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Collided with glider shortly after take-off. Famose pilot Herrman Geiger (52).
The landing glider (HB-579) collided with HB-OAV shortly after its lift-of at ca 100ft over the runway.
H. Geiger was heliported to the hospital, where he succumbed to his head-injuries.The student-pilot suffered a concussion, the glider-pilot sufferd multiple fractures and a concussion.

"On Friday 26 August 1966, a stupid take-off accident on the runway at Sion airfield put an end to Geiger's career. The accident occurred at an altitude of around one hundred metres, as Geiger was taking off from Sion aerodrome in a Piper J3 at 5:05 p.m. with a passenger, Miss Anne-Marie Challand.

A glider, piloted by Mr Charles Gabioud, began to land. The two aircraft collided, the plane nosed over and crashed into the ground. Hermann Geiger died in hospital, while his passenger and the glider pilot were seriously injured, the latter dying a few days later.

The exact circumstances of the accident are still unclear, and eyewitness accounts are contradictory. According to some, it was the passenger in the J3 (a dual-control aircraft) who was flying the plane. Other reports suggest that the fading sun blinded the pilot, Hermann Geiger, and prevented him from seeing the glider. Nevertheless, the Federal Aircraft Accident Investigation Commission has concluded that Hermann Geiger was at fault, as his aircraft should have given way to the glider during the landing phase."

La Stampa 27 January 1966, p1+5
Nouvelle Revue de Lausanne,n199, 27.8.1966 p 1, 6-7, via: https://scriptorium.bcu-lausanne.ch/
Tribune de Lausanne, n 239, 27.8.1966, p1, 3,9, via: https://scriptorium.bcu-lausanne.ch/
Photos of the crash scene, Netherlands National Archive: http://proxy.handle.net/10648/34b6bf15-9208-f99a-dc12-b9c405a612fd
http://proxy.handle.net/10648/904556ff-62bb-3afa-73b3-fe7c8be5ab29
https://pilote-de-montagne.com/10-mai-1952-hermann-geiger-se-pose-avec-des-skis-sur-le-glacier-de-la-kanderfirn-valais-suisse/

Other occurrences involving this aircraft


17 December 1962

HB-OAV

Section Valaisanne de l'Ae C.S.

0

Col de Menouve

min

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
22-May-2009 12:58	XLerate	Added
28-Jul-2014 20:35	TB	Updated [Date, Aircraft type, Registration, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Country, Source, Damage, Narrative, ]
10-Feb-2015 17:03	sparrow9	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Total occupants, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, ]
11-Feb-2018 18:18	TB	Updated [Aircraft type, Other fatalities, Source, Narrative, ]
11-Jan-2021 10:35	hoekb03	Updated [Source, ]
21-May-2021 10:08	Hoekb03	Updated [Source, ]
26-Aug-2024 08:13	Iceman 29	Updated [Time, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative, ]
19-Jun-2025 12:20	TB	Updated [Embed code, ]