The two-men crew on board an Armed Forces of Malta Bulldog aeroplane that crashed on Sunday at 7.30pm near Dwejra in Gozo had a narrow escape from a potentially fatal accident, with only a black eye and a couple of stitches.
Pilots contacted by this newspaper said that flying in Sunday’s weather conditions meant that pilots had to keep in mind the potential danger of microburst – a meteorological phenomenon where a shaft of cold air plunges to the ground from high up in the atmosphere, hits the earth and fans out in all directions.
This makes a low-flying aircraft prone to flying into a strong headwind, then a downdraft, and then a strong tailwind, robbing it of lift and causing it to sink rapidly.
Eyewitnesses said the Bulldog, piloted by Warrant Officer 2 Mark Brincat with Lance Bombardier Kevin Borg as flight technician, which was on normal coast patrol, seemed to stall and then crashed into a field at Santu Pietru near Dwejra.
The aircraft flipped over on landing and its engine broke off from the fuselage. Aviation enthusiasts said the way the Bulldog landed certainly saved the crew’s life, as the cockpit did not touch the ground before it came to rest.
Most probably the aeroplane landed on a wing, cartwheeled and landed on the engine, which broke off, then touched the other wing, crashed on the tail and came to rest upside down. This tumultuous landing comes as no surprise, as the Bulldog has a stalling speed of 72 kilometres per hour with flaps up.
The Bulldog TMk1, serial number AS0020, was extensively damaged and is most probably beyond repair. It was purchased by the AFM in 2000 from the Royal Air Force. Market prices are up to Lm16,000 (EUR37270).
The Bulldog is used by the AFM as a training plane and for surveillance, while the RAF used it as a basic trainer. It has a wing span of 10.11 metres and an overall length of 7.08 metres. It can sustain 169 kilometres an hour cruise speed and has a maximum speed of 176 kilometres an hour when flying at sea level.
Crash landings in Malta became a rarity after the end of WWII. Since then, the two best remembered fatal aviation accidents were the one on 14 October 1975 and the other – less than a year ago – on 10 September 2006.
The accident in 1975 occurred over Zabbar, when a Vulcan aircraft exploded in midair after it had failed to land at Luqa, killing five of its seven crew members and a woman who was walking along a street. Some 20 Zabbar residents were slightly injured.
The other accident happened during the Malta Aero GP which was held over Marsamxett Harbour, Valletta. An Extra 200, piloted by Irishman Eddie Goggins, chewed the tail off Swede Gabor “the wild one” Varga’s Yak 55. Goggins managed to bail out, but Varga, who was trapped in his aircraft, slammed into the sea and died within minutes.