Greek F16 fighter jet crashes at Albacete airbase in central Spain

[Shotgunner51]

So many casualties ... RIP

 

[Beast]

Bad omen after the Greek right wing won the election. RIP to the dead.

 

[Hindustani78]

Reuters / Monday, January 26, 2015
Smoke rises after a Greek F-16 fighter plane crashed during NATO training at the Albacete air base in Albacete, Spain, January 26, 2015. Ten people were killed and another 13 people were injured after the aircraft crashed shortly after taking off at the training centre in Albacete on Monday, a spokesman for the defence ministry said. REUTERS/RTVE

 

[Kambojaric]

Sad to read about this. RIP to the dead!

 

[Paksanity]

Terrible sad news. RIP.

From the images, it seems another aircraft on ground was damaged or destroyed. Perhaps an F-16.

Graphic from f16.net.

Explains how it happened.

 

[Hindustani78]

Mercier: Engine Failure Prompted F-16 Crash

An engine failure at takeoff led to Monday's deadly crash of the Greek Air Force F-16, which killed 11 personnel at a NATO air base in Spain, French air chief Gen. Denis Mercier said on Thursday.
"What we know is that the F-16 crew, fairly quickly, right after the takeoff, tried to eject," Mercier told journalists. Nine of the personnel lost were French, while the two Greek pilots lost their lives.

"It is an incredibly improbable accident to have an aircraft that has an engine breakdown at takeoff, flies sharply off course and falls right on top of aircraft which are getting ready to fly, so are full of fuel," he said. "It is a series of unlucky events."

No details were given of the cause of engine failure.

The French Air Force will continue to send pilots to Albacete air base, which operates as a NATO training site, he said.

Mercier said he knew the air base well, and that there was no safety or organizational problem.

"It was completely bad luck," he said. "A few meters further and there would have been a different outcome."

Mercier said one of the French pilots was sitting in one of the Alpha jet trainers that Monday, studying the flight plans, while the pilot due to fly with him had left his plans by the runway and was not in the plane when the F-16 hit the flight line.

"One is luck, the other enormously bad luck," he said. There was not much more to be done on boosting safety, he said.

A crash inquiry has been launched and the F-16's black boxes have been recovered, he said.

The Air Force will hold a day of mourning on Monday, while President François Hollande has set Tuesday as a national day of mourning, with an official ceremony at Les Invalides, the military museum here.

The bodies of the nine French personnel are being flown back to Nancy air base, eastern France, on Thursday, the Air Force said in a statement.

Among the aircraft hit by the F-16 were two French Alpha jets and two Mirage 2000-D fighters.

The pilots were taking part in advanced multinational training in the NATO Tactical Leadership Program, based at the Spanish air base.

Dassault Aviation offered sincere "condolences to the relatives of the victims, assures the injured of its support and confirms its solidarity with the close-knit family that is the Air Force," the company said in a statement on Tuesday. Dassault built the Alpha jets and Mirages.

"These aviators died or were wounded while in the conduct of their mission," the chief of the defense staff, Army Gen. Pierre de Villiers, said in a statement on Wednesday. "They were training to face up to the most demanding operations the Air Force undertakes everywhere in the front line."

 

[Alienoz_TR]

6 other aircraft were damaged by the crash, other than the Greek F-16. Terrible loss.

 

[Hindustani78]

6 other aircraft were damaged by the crash, other than the Greek F-16. Terrible loss.

Yes its a terrible loss but i think F 35 will be based in Spain soon.

 

[BHAN85]

R.I.P to the victims.

Maybe this very strange accident could have relaxed French dark plans in the Gulf with its aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle?. Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier plans in the Gulf was announced one day before charlie hebdo attacks in "Mer et Marine" French news portal.

Who wants to make a war with an ally which fighters can be easily hacked remotely?.

 

[SipahSalar]

Germany invaded Greece in WW2, it is Germany's fault. Pay up Germany!