Ju-52 from Dübendorf crashed in the Swiss Mountains near Flims

Maybe outside Switzerland this did not make the news, but on Saturday afternoon a Ju-52 from the Ju-Air in Dübendorf which quite a few of us already had the pleasure to fly with invited by IWC, crashed near Flims in the Swiss mountains.

www.nzz.ch/panorama/flugzeug-stuerzt-oberhalb-von-flims-beim-segnas-pass-ab-ld.1408933

www.ju-air.ch/de/top-news/

There was no detailed news yet but I've seen a picture on the TV news which showed the plane was torn into pieces.

I've had several times the pleasure to fly with the wonderful Ju-Air and the passionate people who made it possible to fly with a piece of living history. They work unsalaried just for the passion of flying and conserving a technical highlight of the past.

My heartfelt condolences goes to everybody involved and who lost family members or friends.

Such a sad story to wake up to this morning. So many families affected by this tragic event.
Jonathan

I just saw the news . Twenty casualties. The maximum number of crew members and passengers on board.
Nothing known about the cause. No black box.
Adrian,
(alwaysiwc)

What a tragedy. Condolences to their family and friends.

Sad, sad news....

Very nicely written tribute Tilo. 
This is tragic news. 

Indeed no Flight Data Recorder or Cockpit Voice Recorder on the JU-52 to tell us the cause of this horrible accident, resulting in the loss fo 20 lives and of an iconic vintage airplane.   
The wreckage being in a relatively small heap over flat land, and not strewn over a larger area, is an indicator that the aircraft had on impact a low forward speed, close to a vertical dive.  There are a couple of possibilities for this but the most likely is, imho, loss of control due a catastrophic structural failure.  Those were experienced pilots and I do not believe that engine failure (port or starboard) would have resulted in such loss of control.

After thinking about the horrible JU 52 accident last week chronicled here, I went looking for my photos of my IWC JU 52 model.   This is such a large model it spends most of the time in the basement where there is room for it. Just reminiscing a bit.

What a sad news, my deepest condolences to all who are left behind with a tragic loss of friends and family.

I also have fond memories of our flight in the JU-52. What I remember from our flight was that many of the passengers were filming so I wonder if there will be details found about the reason of the crash on the cameras and phones from the victims.

Kind regards,

Clemens

Clemens, I'm almost sure they will find something there. I didn't even think of it but read in a Swiss newspaper about it today. They were quite at a spot where there is a tourist attraction, maybe the curve was too narrow that the plane took there and the hot air is an additional danger too I've learned recently. Because the engines have less power then. It won't get better for the dead people and their families but it will help understand and maybe allow future passengers and pilots to know more about the ristks.
One problem with the Ju-52 is, that there's no simulator and very few opportunities to do training on the plane. So pilots don't have as much practice as on current planes.

A real tragedy!
I had been flying with this exact Ju-52 (HB-HOT) three years ago, it was wearing the Rimowa logos at that time:

The IWC branded Ju-52 (HB-HOS) will be on duty again as I have heard. Ju-Air is offering tickets again for flights from Mainz and Speyer airport this fall.
I hope the reason for this horrible accident can be identified.