An aircraft crashes in Germany and a man has died after a small aircraft crashed in western Germany‘s Sauerland region, according to German police said on Tuesday.

Aircraft crashes in Germany

The police statement said that the aircraft smashed into the garden of a residential building in the town of Plettenberg in the western state of North-Rhein Westphalia at around 4:40 p.m. local time (1540 UTC).

The wreckage was lying between trees in the undergrowth. Based on initial findings, there were no other casualties.

The man’s identity had yet to be determined. He was said to have been the pilot of the aircraft.

What else do we know about the crash?

Germany’s DPA news agency cited a police spokesperson as saying that the single-engine propeller plane crashed into the garden of a residential house in the afternoon for reasons that are yet unclear.

A helicopter was deployed to document the crash site from above.

A brake parachute on ground under police cordon in garden — Police cordoned off an area around the garden in Plettenberg, a town in the Sauerland region of western GermanyImage: Alex Talash/dpa/picture alliance

A police helicopter was used to take photos of the scene of the crash.

Germany’s federal agency for flight accidents (BFU) is the authority in charge of investigations into the incident. It will likely release a report after several months, according to police.

Several eyewitnesses observed the crash and were attended to by rescue workers at the site of the incident.

Police cordoned off the area around the garden shortly after the crash.

Edited by: Rana Taha

Aircraft crashes into garden, killing pilot – DW – 03/05/2025