He was stationed at the auxiliary control stand in the lower fin. The same place he normally is, on every flight.
Ordinary.
Until a gas cell ruptured.

“I heard a muffled detonation and looked up and saw from the starboard side down inside the gas cell a bright reflection on the front bulkhead of cell No. 4.”

Flames burst from the ship, spreading from cell to cell.

“The bright reflection in the cell was inside.
I saw it through the cell. It was at first red and yellow and there was smoke in it.
The cell did not burst on the lower side.
The cell suddenly disappeared by the heat…. The fire proceeded further down and then it got air.
The flame became very bright and the fire rose up to the side, more to the starboard side, as I remember seeing it, and I saw that with the flame aluminum parts and fabric parts were thrown up.
In that same moment the forward cell and the back cell of cell 4 also caught fire [cell 3 and cell 5].
At that time parts of girders, molten aluminum and fabric parts started to tumble down from the top.
The whole thing only lasted a fraction of a second.”

He was lucky to get out.
Many other crew members didn’t survive, and went down with the ship they piloted.