Small plane crash in France kills 11 near residential area

A small parachuting plane crashed just after takeoff in Tomblaine, near Nancy in northeastern France, killing all 11 people on board and leaving wreckage on a bike path in a residential area close to a shopping center. The aircraft went down about 300 meters from the runway at Nancy-Essey airport, a near-miss with nearby homes that instantly turned a routine training flight into France’s deadliest general aviation disaster in about 30 years.

The plane belonged to Tandemotion Parachutisme, a skydiving school based at Nancy-Essey, and was carrying the pilot plus 10 parachutists. Authorities said five were trainee parachutists and five were instructors. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said family members of some of the trainees were at the airport and witnessed the crash, while police urged the public to stay away from the airfield as the scene was secured. Some later accounts identified the passengers as five students and five instructors, with the students described as nurses or nursing trainees.

Witnesses said the aircraft had been climbing around 11 a.m. local time when the engine noise suddenly stopped. One witness told reporters there was no visible fire or explosion before impact. Regional prefect Yves Seguy said the aircraft plunged vertically to the ground and stressed how close the tragedy came to being far worse, saying that a few meters one way or the other could have caused collateral casualties. The wreckage came down near Salvador Allende Street, deepening concern over how close a crash site can be to homes when light aircraft operate from urban airports.

Mayor Mathieu Klein said the victims died "in full view of their loved ones, who were preparing to film the tandem skydives." His description captured the public nature of the loss, with relatives already on hand for what should have been a controlled jump sequence. The French air accident agency, the Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses, opened an investigation into the crash, and authorities have not said whether extreme heat played any role even though Nancy had recorded its hottest temperature ever the day before.

The accident has sharpened questions about oversight of small aircraft and skydiving operations working out of airfields bordered by housing. In Tomblaine, the final flight path did not reach the homes below, but it came close enough to show how little margin exists when a training aircraft loses power over a built-up neighborhood.