2013 Eberswalde-Finow Zlin crash
Zlin Aviation · Crash due to fuel starvation and pilot error
From Eberswalde Finow Airfield, ICAO EDAV to an unrecorded destination
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 1 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
Zlin Aviation
- Aircraft type
- Zlin AVIATION
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- OK-ZRB (not valid)
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- 1
- Route
- From Eberswalde Finow Airfield, ICAO EDAVTo not recorded
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Fluids/misc hardware
- Personnel issues › Task performance
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
On 29 June 2013, a Zlin Z 526 light aircraft crashed during an unauthorized aerobatics display near Eberswalde Finow Airfield in Germany. The pilot was fatally injured.
Accident
The Roadrunner's Paradise Race 61 festival was taking place at the Luftfahrtmuseum Finowfurt (Finowfurt Aviation Museum), next to Eberswalde Finow Airfield. The pilot involved made an unauthorized demonstration flight.
The aircraft took off from runway 10 at Eberswalde Finow Airfield shortly after 12:04. After takeoff, the pilot flew to the festival site and then made several low passes. On the final pass, the aircraft made a low inverted pass from an easterly direction. During this manoeuvre, the engine lost power. The pilot attempted to roll the aircraft upright, but the right wing tip tank collided with the ground. This reversed the roll and the aircraft crashed upside down. There was no fire except for a brief flash as the right wing tip fuel tank was ruptured on initial impact.
The crash destroyed the aircraft and fatally injured the pilot. The aircraft crashed into the Solarpark Finow Tower, destroying a number of solar panels. No one on the ground was injured in the incident.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation (BFU) investigated the accident. The investigation revealed that on the day of the crash, the aircraft did not have a valid registration: the purchase contract required the aircraft to be promptly deleted from the Czech register. Furthermore, the liability insurance policy had ended on 1 May 2013.
According to BFU, the 47-year-old crash pilot held a valid Private Pilot's License (PPL) and was rated as Pilot in Command (PIC) for Single Engine Piston land (SEP land). His license also had entries for aerobatics and night flight qualifications. The pilot had a valid class 2 medical certificate.
The pilot had accumulated 3,127:55 hours and 10,445 flight cycles as per last logbook entry 13 October 2012.
The investigation further found that:
the aerobatics display was performed without permission from the responsible authority
exemption for aerobatics below 1500 ft had not been granted
the inverted low pass was conducted at a height of 20-50 m and some 20 m in front of the spectators
the right wing tank was undamaged and contained a low amount of fuel. The left wing tank and both tip tanks were destroyed
the collector tank was undamaged and empty
only cylinder one's fuel injector line contained fuel, and only a small amount. The other five fuel injector lines were dry
the aircraft had been supplied with motor fuel and not Avgas as required
the engine was deemed in good technical condition
the aircraft was not certified for aerobatics as wing tip tanks were installed
the pilot did not wear a parachute - instead, the seat had been filled with foam
control input by the pilot resulted in the aircraft veering off to the right in a nose-down attitude of 5-20 degrees during the unsuccessful recovery
Causes
BFU concluded that engine performance was impaired due to lack of fuel during inverted flight. Subsequent errors in control inputs by the pilot during the roll back to normal flight attitude resulted in the collision with solar panels and, subsequently, the ground.
They further stated that the pilot's decision to conduct aerobatics in close proximity to the ground contributed to the accident.
Text from the Wikipedia article “2013 Eberswalde-Finow Zlin crash” (revision 1306004463, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: 2013 Eberswalde-Finow Zlin crash
- Revision
- 1306004463 · 2025-08-15 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q55601958
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "2013 Eberswalde-Finow Zlin crash" (page 57642201, revision 1306004463)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- Reviewed correction (2026-09-26): A private pilot flying unauthorised aerobatics over a festival in a light aircraft: a civilian display, general aviation. The article: "a Zlin Z 526 light aircraft crashed during an unauthorized aerobatics display near Eberswalde Finow Airfield"
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.