Another double crash for display teams
2016/06/09 AIRheads/EH Leave a comment
As if last week’s crash of a Blue Angel and Thunderbird on the same day wasn’t strange enough, a Patrouille Suisse F-5 Tiger and Russian Knights Su-27 Flanker crashed within hours of each other on Thursday 9 June. The Swiss pilot ejected after an apparent mid air collision over Leeuwarden airbase in the Netherlands, while the Russian pilot died in a crash near Moscow.
The Swiss F-5s collided while practicing their display routine prior to the Leeuwarden airshow on Friday. One aircraft came down near the town of Bitgum, north west of the airbase. Rescue service confirmed the pilot ejected. An Air Medical Services helicopter was dispatched to the crash site.
The second F-5 involved in the incident landed safely after half an hour or so, minus half of its right hand horizontal stabilizer. The trailing edge of the right wing also showed some damage from the collision.
Friday’s airshow at Leeuwarden marks the
international airshow debut of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. On Thursday evening, the Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) announced the show is going ahead as planned.
The cause of the Russian crash is unknown so far.
Beschadigde F5 geland.
#suisse #crash #leeuwarden pic.twitter.com/Ak5QTsL2Ua
— Dennis Betten (@dennisbetten91)
June 9, 2016