Overview
- The single‑engine Beechcraft Bonanza G36, registered in Germany and flown from Austria, plunged into a field close to Medulin airfield on 4 June and all four people on board died.
- Croatian authorities and the Austrian Foreign Ministry confirmed the victims were Austrian citizens and later reporting identified one as entrepreneur Walter Pondorfer.
- Eyewitnesses described the plane flying level before it entered a sudden spiraling descent and hit the ground with no visible explosion, while emergency crews found no survivors on arrival.
- The Agency for Investigation of Air, Sea and Rail Accidents (AIN) in Croatia has opened a formal investigation to examine wreckage, communications and flight records with an initial report due under local rules in up to 30 days.
- Investigators are focusing on the final flight path, whether a technical failure or loss of control caused the stall‑like spiral, and why there are conflicting accounts about last radio calls and the planned landing, and the case has drawn high public attention because of the prominent victim.