Swiss Cheese and how the holes line up.

Spare a thought for this student as the holes began to line up. But this could never happen to any of could it?
Below I give a rough translation of a recent REX published by the FFA .

" I arrive at the flying club around 4 p.m. My instructor is there and he suggests that I do a navigation excercise in preparation for my test. I want to, but tell him I don’t know, I’ll see. A little later in the conversation, I tell him about Darois’s fatal accident, which I have in mind. One of the pilots who died was previously a professional acquaintance. I had started to prepare the Nav for my test but, I had not finished it. I hadn’t planned on flying. I finally decide to take the flight, because I tell myself that as a rational person I must not be swayed by the Darois accident. I make the decision to fly but my previous indecision led to a late departure and rapid and incomplete preparation.
When the plane returns to the field, I finalize my Nav Log. I inform my instructor that I don’t know if I will do a touchdown or a complete in Dijon. Then, I specify the cumulative time of the flight times: 2 hours. I finally said that I will refuel in Dijon. However, I forgot to add the time the landing, refueliing and take off time to my cumulative flight times. In my discussion, with my instructor just before about paying attention to the destination goal. It was a warning I had not really taken on board, not realizing that he was referring to However my realizing wanting to land in Dijon to refuel. I hurry to the plane, which has just been refueled, and pre-flight with a departure scheduled for 5:55 pm. Departure: lined up at 6:10 pm I take off. I had told my instructor that if I didn’t feel it, I would turn around towards LFxx without going as far as Dijon to avoid arriving at aeronautical night. At the start of the flight, I reformulated this precaution. In flight: I go to Bar sur Seine, where I do a vertical, before turning towards Dijon. The nav to Dijon is going well, my passage times are good, I am flying at FL 055 as planned. I move slightly out of my way to pass far from the P 37, although it is not necessary and then resumr my planned route.
Arrival Dijon Darois 7 minutes later. I do a vertical at 3000 feet and cross a plane at 2500 feet. I do not see the windsock and the direction of the wind well (in fact no wind) and announce I will redo a vertical passage. The crossed plane indicated integrating downwind 02. I decide to follow it and announced it. I configure my machine and prepare myself for landing in 02, I arrive too high I go round. On the second pass I made my base a little further and landed correctly. In Dijon: I refuel, a quick pre-flight and I send an SMS to my instructor for a take-off 10 minutes later. At the hold point, a plane announces itself for the long final. Once the plane has landed and passed the middle of the runway, I enter 02, line up and hold. Back to my starting field LFxx: the runway clear I take off. I am heading for LFxx at FL 045, which I announce to control. I see the sun is low on the horizon, but I still think I can get to my destination. I hadn’t noticed that I was leaving too late anyway. A few minutes after my first contact, I asked ATC for a heading towards LFxx, to make sure of the best course. He tells me the 3xx, which I am already taking. Flying in fast cruise, I pay particular attention to the pressure and the oil temperature, and make sure to stay 100 to 200 rpm under the red line. I regularly check my settings to make sure everything is ok.There is obviously apprehension, but being particularly attentive to my parameters allows me to control this apprehension so that it does not turn into fear or panic. At one point, I’m not sure where my position is and the darkness begins to creep in. I check it by taking a radial from the VOR of Troyes, which indicates radial 154. Sceptical, I ask ATC for my position. 18Nm east of St Flo. Given the distance still to be covered, and the approaching aeronautical night, a certain oblique cloudiness in front of me, I know that LFxx as a destination objective is to be ruled out.
I see Troyes in the distance to my right and I know Auxerre is to my left. I consider myself to be about halfway between. I decide to head for Auxerre and ask the control for the heading: 238 °. In the meantime, via text message, I let my instructor know my position, who I imagine is biting his fingers. He suggests why don’t I land at St Flo. It’s dark, I don’t know the terrain, grass runway, no lights. I prefer to continue towards Auxerre and inform my instructor. Knowing the terrain of Auxerre and having had an introduction to night flying guided my decision and reassured me. Arrival in Auxerre: I start my descent to arrive on a direct final approach in Auxerre. I check my Auxerre VAC card to tune the radio so that I can turn on the beacons. I had put SDVFR to have my trace. But until then, I hadn’t thought of using it for the Nav. I think about it about halfway to confirm and visualize my heading and my distance to Auxerre. Seeing the gap in the forest, click 5 times to switch on the runway lights.
I think at first that its not working and then after a few seconds the lights up come on (relief!). I enter the turn for a long final. Once the lights are on, I go back to Paris Info to warn them that I am passing on Auxerre. Come to think of it cold now, I think I certainly should have stayed on Paris Info and monitored Auxerre. I get a little high, I see the four whites on the PAPI. I correct a little, but arriving in the final above the forest, I see the trees which seem close to me so I am reassured by staying high despite the four white ones. Once past the trees, I correct and see a red before crossing the threshold of the runway. The landing is smooth. The nose wheel remains blocked. I have in mind that this had led a fellow student to leave the runway. I apply the brakes to unlock the nose wheel. It’s not enough, I put on another stronger one that unlocks it. Once landed, I switch to Paris Info again to tell them that I’ve landed, but I guess I’m too low for him to hear me. As I passed the holding point, I sent a “landed in Auxerre” SMS to my instructor to reassure him. In the parking lot, my instructor calls me and asks me to inform control that I am down and safe. "

The aircraft was a Robin.DR400/120
IMO despite the errors this student pilot did well, however it could all have been very different, and IMHO it demonstrates how, often very little things that can mount up.
@Peter if you don’t agree please delete this but I did understand that this thread is not just for accidents but also for those that could have been.