By pierre tran
Published: 25 Sep 2009 10:12
Source: Defense News
Paris – French ships and aircraft were searching the waters off the coast of Perpignan in southern France on Sept. 25 for the Navy pilot of one of two Rafale fighter aircraft that crashed into the sea after an apparent collision the previous day.
The search for the downed pilot would continue “as long as necessary,” Defense Minister Hervé Morin said, the French Navy Web site reported. “As long as there’s hope of finding him,” he added while speaking to journalists on board the carrier Charles de Gaulle.
file photo of Rafale M
France is in negotiations for the sale of 36 Rafales to Brazil as part of the FX-2 fighter procurement program.
The two Rafales went down about 30 kilometers east of Perpignan around 6 p.m. Sept. 24 as they headed back to the carrier after a training flight, the Navy said. The aircraft were not carrying armaments and were engaged in validating parameters for catapult takeoff.
“This was a flying accident,” Morin said. The collision between the two aircraft “had nothing to do with the plane.”
A Navy helicopter picked up one of the pilots, Capt. Yann Beaufils, who ejected as his aircraft went into a spin after registering a shock.
The rescued pilot, after ejecting, saw the other Rafale continue flying, and the radar track was lost a few minutes later, Morin said.
A midair collision was the most likely hypothesis, a French Navy spokesman said.
France has deployed a naval coast guard ship, an Atlantique 2 maritime patrol aircraft, a Hawkeye surveillance aircraft from the Charles de Gaulle, a Navy Falcon 50 jet, a Lynx Navy helicopter as well a Dauphin helicopter from civil security service in the search.
The authorities are also sending a tug with undersea equipment for locating aircraft wreckage and have asked for help from a Spanish ship.
Last year, a French Air Force pilot was killed when he crashed in his Rafale in the countryside in the Corrèze region. The crash inquiry concluded the pilot had suffered from “spatial disorientation.”
All content © 2009, Army Times Publishing Company
<---End of Quote--->
Related Article:
French navy locates pilot’s body with crashed Rafale
DATE:01/10/09
SOURCE:Flight International
By Craig Hoyle
A French navy diving unit has located the wreckage of a crashed Dassault Rafale fighter with its missing pilot still inside, after a search effort lasting almost one week.
DGA procurement agency test pilot François Duflot was killed on 24 September after his aircraft was involved in a suspected mid-air collision with another Rafale. The pair were completing a test flight staged from the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle when the accident happened around 30km (16nm) east of Perpignan.
One pilot was rescued by helicopter shortly after ejecting over the Mediterranean Sea, while a major search mounted for Duflot was called off after a three-day period.
The French navy confirms that its personnel located the downed fighter and its pilot late on 30 September, located at a depth of about 700m (2,300ft) and some 35km east of Cape Bear.
http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/10/01/333007/french-navy-locates-pilots-body-with-crashed-rafale.html
Related posts:
