Instructor and student from pilot training school in Malaga die in a light aircraft crash on mountainside in Almeria

Two young men, both believed to be in their mid-twenties, died early this Wednesday morning (11 October) after the light aircraft in which they were travelling crashed into a mountainside in the Cabo de Gata natural park in Andalucía's Almeria province. The accident victims were a student and a flight instructor from One Air pilot school, which operates from the El Trapiche aerodrome in Vélez-Málaga.

As SUR has learned, the flight was on a night training exercise which left the aerodrome at around 11pm, bound for Valencia. After refuelling at Almería Airport, the plane continued on its scheduled route but crashed onto the mountain at around 0.30 am this morning, for reasons that are unknown and which are still being investigated.

At around 0.30 am, emergency services in Andalucía received an alert from Valencia Airport,via the Valencia's region's 112 service, indicating that contact had been lost with a light aircraft in the area of El Cerro del Fraile. It was the director of the flight school who raised the alarm and called 112 to report that the flight had not arrived or returned its starting point

Immediately, the 112 Andalucía emergency coordination room alerted the Almeria provincial fire brigade, 061 health emergency centre (CES), Local Police, Guardia Civil and National Police units, Plan Infoca, air traffic controllers, the coordination and rescue centre, civil protection volunteers in Nijar, maritime rescue services, Almeria Airport and the government subdelegation in Almeria. Almeria Airport remained open during the night so that the aircraft involved in the search could refuel.

This Wednesday morning, fire brigade sources confirmed to 112 the discovery of the wreckage and two bodies in an area of difficult access in Cerro del Fraile. The mountain rescue group of the Guardia Civil of Granada has travelled to the area to recover the bodies of the deceased.

Sources said there was no radio contact prior to the accident alerting to a possible mechanical failure of the aircraft, nor did the occupants make an emergency call to air traffic controllers.

The training colleagues and all the staff of the Malaga-based company are shocked by what happened. The business is based on the Malaga Nostrum business park and was created in 2010. According to their website, One Air is a training organisation approved by the Spanish Aviation Safety Agency (AESA), with E-ATO 190 certification, and recognised by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).