A Czech pilot was killed on Monday when the military aircraft he was flying on a training flight crashed about 30 kilometres (19 miles) southwest of Prague, officials said.
“The plane crashed in a military area close to (the town of) Jince. One of our most experienced pilots was found dead,” said Czech air force spokesman Petr Sykora.
He added no one else was hurt in the crash of the new subsonic L-159 Alca jet, made by Czech aircraft manufacturer Aero Vodochody. A police officer from nearby Pribram said the crash was reported around 11:15 GMT and added the wreckage was not on fire.
“The cause is being investigated by military authorities,” he told Reuters over the phone.
Technical glitches and a lack of training have led to a string of accidents in Czech airspace which have claimed 24 lives in the past decade.
The crash comes at a key time for Aero Vodochody, which is hoping to win an order from India for its L-159 B training aircraft, a two-seater version of the plane which crashed on Monday.
The majority state-owned company, 35 percent of which is held by U.S. plane maker Boeing , is offering 66 of the twin-seaters to the Indian military.
Britain’s BAE Systems Plc is also in the running for the order, expected to be worth well over $1 billion.
India said earlier this month it was near a decision on buying advanced military training aircraft, but had not set a date for a final decision.
Source: Reuters
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Steve Rush ~ Touchdown-News
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February 24, 2003 at 2:21 pm