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2022 Baltic Sea Cessna Citation crash

A Cessna 551 Citation II/SP, similar to the aircraft involved in the crash
Accident
Date	4 September 2022 (2022-09-04) 17:31 (GMT)
Summary	Crashed into the sea; under investigation
Site	Baltic Sea near Gotland, Sweden, Ventspils Latvia approx. 37 km (23 mi; 20 nmi) off shoreline of Ventspils, Latvia 57°39′54″N 21°5′38.4″E / 57.66500°N 21.094000°E / 57.66500; 21.094000
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Cessna 551 Citation II/SP
Operator	GG Rent GmbH
Registration	OE-FGR (OEFGR) / 440A99
Flight origin	Jerez-La Parra Airport (XRY/LEJR), Spain 12:56 (GMT)
Destination	Cologne Bonn Airport (CGN/EDDK), Germany ~15:50 (GMT)
Passengers	3
Crew	1
Fatalities	4
Survivors	0

On 4 September 2022, a chartered Cessna 551 business jet registered in Austria was scheduled to fly from Jerez, Spain, to Cologne, Germany. Early in the flight, after takeoff, the aircraft's pilot notified air traffic control about a cabin pressure malfunction. After the aircraft passed the Iberian Peninsula, no further contact could be established.

The aircraft, which climbed to its assigned altitude at 36,000 feet (11,000 m), slightly turned near Paris and Cologne, where it failed to make a landing, and continued straight on its northeastern course, flying over Germany and then out for almost two hours and 1,120 kilometres (700 mi; 600 nmi) over the Baltic Sea near Denmark and Sweden. Fuel was eventually exhausted when the aircraft was over the Baltic Sea, approximately 37 kilometres (23 mi; 20 nmi) off Ventspils, Latvia, and crashed into the water in a spiral dive after an uncontrolled descent.

Aircraft

The aircraft involved in the accident was a 43-year-old Cessna 551 Citation II built in 1979, with manufacturer serial number 551-0021, registered as OE-FGR. The aircraft was powered by two Pratt & Whitney JT15D-4 engines and did not have a flight data recorder. Since July 2020, it was owned and operated by GG Rent.

Passengers and crew

Four people from Germany were on board: Karl-Peter Griesemann (who was the pilot), his wife Juliane, their daughter Lisa (who also carried a pilot's license), and her boyfriend Paul. The drop in pressure caused the pilot and passengers to lose consciousness. The aircraft's operator was GG Rent GmbH, based in Bergisch Gladbach, located to the east of Cologne, Germany.

On 6 September, Mayor of Cologne Henriette Reker commented on the Griesemann family's misfortune and offered condolences.

History of the flight

The aircraft, which was approved for operation with one pilot, took off from Jerez in southern Spain. The pilot reported a cabin pressure problem shortly before ATC contact was lost. The Cessna 551 Citation II was flying at 36,000 feet (11,000 m) at the time. Shortly after its entry into French airspace, around 14:25 UTC, the Cessna was intercepted by one Dassault Rafale, scrambled from Mont-de Marsan air base. A second Rafale from Saint-Dizier air base took over the interception. The Cessna was continuously followed by the French Air Force until it reached Cologne, around 15:57 UTC, when the German Air Force took over.

Two German Eurofighter Typhoon jets were scrambled from the Rostock-Laage air base at 16:15 GMT. Their attempts to contact the aircraft crew were unsuccessful. At 16:50 GMT, Shortly after they reached the island of Rügen, the German fighter pilots broke away. The plane entered Swedish airspace, where it flew south of Gotland and on towards the Gulf of Riga.

A Danish F-16 fighter took over the escort of the ghost flight. Later, the Danish Air Force said they could not see anybody in the cockpit after intercepting the plane. The Danish jet pilots witnessed the plane going into a downward spiral and crashing 37 kilometres (23 mi; 20 nmi) off the shoreline of Latvia, far beyond the outer edge of the Latvian territorial sea, at around 17:45 GMT.

Aftermath

According to the Latvian Maritime and Air Rescue Centre, parts of the plane have been located. The Swedish Stena Line ferry Stena Urd was asked to help at the crash site.

According to Lars Antonsson at the Maritime and Air Rescue Centre, Swedish and Lithuanian helicopters flew around the crash site for several hours but did not find any survivors or bodies. Johan Ahlin from the Swedish Maritime Rescue Agency told SVT that the emergency services discovered traces of oil on the water and smaller pieces of debris.

On 5 September, the search for the plane debris and passengers began in an area of about 6 by 6 kilometres (3.7 mi × 3.7 mi; 3.2 nmi × 3.2 nmi) where the sea depth is around 60 metres (200 ft).

Later that day, a total of 11 plane wreckage parts including seats had been found, and shortly before midnight, human remains were found and transported to Ventspils by the Latvian Naval Forces.

On 8 September, further investigation of the accident was taken over by the German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation.

Investigation

According to the provisional report, everyone on board the plane, including the pilot Griesemann, became unconscious shortly after asking a Spanish air traffic controller for permission to descend due to problems on board.

The aircraft continued to fly on autopilot until it exhausted all of its fuel and crashed into the Baltic Sea.

See also

• Notable decompression accidents

References

1. ^ "ASN Aircraft accident Cessna 551 Citation II/SP OE-FGR Ventspils (Baltic Sea)". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
2. LLC, Airnav Systems. "Follow flight OE-FGR on AirNav RadarBox". AirNav Radarbox. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
3. Scheef, Af Manne (4 September 2022). "Privatfly styrtet i havet: Chancen for overlevende er minimal" [Private plane crashed into the sea: the chance for survivors is minimal]. ekstrabladet.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 4 September 2022.
4. Maszczynski, Mateusz (4 September 2022). "BREAKING: 'Ghost Plane' Crashes in the Baltic Sea After Running Out of Fuel". Paddle Your Own Kanoo. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
5. "Private Austrian 'ghost plane' crashes off Latvia". rte.ie. 4 September 2022.
6. "Lidmašīnas katastrofas vietā Baltijas jūrā atrastas, iespējams, cilvēka ķermeņa daļas" [Possibly human body parts were found at the plane crash site in the Baltic Sea]. www.lsm.lv (in Latvian). Retrieved 7 September 2022.
7. "German businessman onboard private jet that crashed into Baltic". The Guardian. 5 September 2022.
8. ^ Interim report BFU22-0915-DX. BFU.
9. ^ "Flugzeugabsturz Ostsee: Pilot war Peter Griesemann – menschliche Körperteile gefunden" [Baltic Sea plane crash: the pilot was Peter Griesemann – human body parts found]. www.24rhein.de (in German). Retrieved 6 September 2022.
10. ^ "Parts of crashed plane's body and personal belongings of deceased have been identified in seabed with help of robot". baltictimes.com. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
11. ^ Schmalz, Alexander (4 September 2022). "Privatjet stürzt nach "Geisterflug" durch halb Europa in die Ostsee" [After a "ghost flight" through half of Europe, a private jet crashes into the Baltic Sea]. Berliner Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 4 September 2022.
12. "Mystery as private plane crashes into Baltic Sea". BBC News. 4 September 2022. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
13. ^ "Flugzeug-Absturz in der Ostsee: Verlor der Pilot das Bewusstsein?" [Plane crash in the Baltic Sea: did the pilot lose consciousness?]. bild.de (in German). Retrieved 4 September 2022.
14. "Les permanences opérationnelles française et allemande interceptent un CESSNA 551 avant un crash en mer Baltique" [French and German operational offices intercept a CESSNA 551 before a crash in the Baltic Sea] (PDF) (Press release) (in French). Paris: Ministry of Armed Forces. 4 September 2022.
15. "Private Austrian 'ghost plane' crashes off Latvia". RTÉ.ie. Agence France-Presse; Reuters. 4 September 2022.
16. "VIDEO | small private plane crashes not far from Ventspils; no survivors found yet". Baltic News Network - News from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia. 5 September 2022. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
17. "Atrastas, iespējams, lidmašīnas katastrofā bojāgājušo ķermeņa daļas" [Body parts of those who may have died in the plane crash have been found]. Liepajniekiem (in Latvian). LETA. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
18. "Blaue-Funken-Funktionär verunglückt: Menschliche Überreste an Absturzstelle gefunden" [Blue Sparks official killed: Human remains found at crash site]. Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger (in German). 6 September 2022. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
19. "Flugzeugabsturz Ostsee: Pilot war bekannter Kölner Karnevalist – Körperteile entdeckt" [Plane crash in the Baltic Sea: the pilot was a well-known Cologne carnivalist – body parts discovered]. www.merkur.de (in German). Retrieved 6 September 2022.
20. "Informe oficial: los Griesemann fallecieron por la falta de oxígeno tras la despresurización de la cabina" (in Spanish). 6 January 2023.

• 2022 in Latvia
• 2022 disasters in Europe
• September 2022 events in Europe
• Aviation accidents and incidents in 2022
• Aviation accidents and incidents in Latvia
• Airliner accidents and incidents caused by fuel exhaustion
• Airliner accidents and incidents caused by pilot incapacitation
• Accidents and incidents involving the Cessna Citation family
• History of the Baltic Sea
• Aviation accidents and incidents in the Baltic Sea