IAF jet
Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit
IAF suspended training flights after series of mishaps
Four incidents in span of a week lead air force chief to halt simulations; three close-calls include two F-15s flying a mere 90 meters apart.
A chain of grave safety mishaps in the span of ten days forced the Israeli Air Force chief to suspend all training flights for 24 hours on Thursday. The pilots instead dedicated the day to a series of lessons and lectures on flight safety.
At the beginning of the week the IAF had already decided to suspend all flights for a half-day following a harrowingly close call when two F-15 warplanes dangerously near each other. An investigation into the incident revealed the planes were a mere 90 meters apart, due to the negligence of a senior pilot.
Israeli Air Force F-15 (Photo: EPA)
The commander of the squadron held a disciplinary hearing for one of the pilots involved the incident, believing his misconduct had caused the mishap. After presenting his debrief, the pilot was incarcerated for five days.
Sources in the air force said this was "a very serious offense" which almost ended in tragedy. The pilot did not follow regulations for a dog-fighting exercise which call for maintaining eye contact between the attacking pilot and the target jets.
But the series of error did not end there: later in the week another similar safety incident when an F-16 warplane flew less than 200 meters away from a Qarnaf-class transport plane. In a third incident, another pair of F-16 jets had a dangerous close-call.
The fourth incident of the week, which also came close to ending in disaster, occurred when an F-16 fighter plane smashed into a flock of birds during a training flight in northern Israel. The cockpit was badly damaged by the hit and the navigator was forced to take control of the plane from the pilot in order to land safely at the Ramat David airbase.
Though the air force has recently increased the frequency of training and operational flights due to the apparent escalation on the northern front, the series of safety incidents was still considered rare and grave for such a brief time span.
