A small plane with a flight instructor and two student pilots on board crashed shortly after takeoff from the Torp Airport in Sandefjord, southwest of Oslo, on Tuesday. All three were later found dead in a forested area near Larvik, and the founder of the flight school called it “a tragic accident.”
No “mayday” warnings were sent from the plane, which authorities from Norway’s accident investigations board described as a Diamond 42 with two motors. The aircraft was fairly new, delivered in 2020.
It remained unclear who was at the controls when witnesses on the ground reported seeing a plane in trouble and on its way down around 9:30 Tuesday morning. Police were alerted to the crash in the unpopulated area characterized by low rolling hills. The weather was clear and mostly sunny.
It took time for emergency services to locate the crash site in an area described by police as “quite inaccessible.” Tor Eriksen, chief of the Larvik police station, said that “when we reached the scene, we could quickly see it was a serious accident, with small chances of finding anyone alive.”
Frode Granlund, founder of the Pilot Flight Academy in Sandefjord, said it was the first time the flight school had experienced an serious accident. The school has around 120 employees and 350 students, all of whom live close together. A crisis team was set up, with Granlund telling state broadcaster NRK that it was most important “to take care of relatives and everyone at the school,” as an investigation into the crash began.
newsinenglish.no staff
