Two dead after crash

Cheap excuses, made up out of thin air …

The defendants only seemed to take the trial in Eisenstadt seriously to a limited extent. Two people lost their lives due to their negligence.(Bild: HS)

Two car mechanics without appropriate training tinkered with an airplane and are responsible for two deaths after the crash. The verdicts are not final.

And there they sat, the father (66) and his son (26), who was constantly grinning, as if he was amused that their negligence had cost two lives. It's really funny when the senior citizen at the Eisenstadt Regional Court answers the question of whether he pleads guilty: "Let's just say yes."

Tinkered with without knowledge
The master car mechanic had built a so-called home-made airplane according to instructions without having any knowledge of aviation technology. The finished work was approved by Austrocontrol and found to be fit for purpose. The man carried out repairs and maintenance work himself, and the boy signed the logs in blank, as he says. He is also a car mechanic.

As fate would have it, "one of my best friends" borrowed the lightweight plane on July 23, 2022, to take a spin over the Wechsel region from Pinkafeld with a guest who had bought the co-pilot's seat at a charity event. The plane caught fire and crashed to the ground. According to an expert, old, oversized sealing rings had been improperly fitted to the oil line.

10 months for involuntary manslaughter
"I've been doing this for decades. It was tight when I checked it," said the senior before he was sentenced to 10 months for gross negligence manslaughter. The grinning son, who as the owner of the plane claimed to have "only taken care of the paperwork", received 4 months conditionally Not legally binding.