The Swallow plane that crashed near the Negev Guard is considered advanced and modern • This is the only plane that Air Force pilots use at the beginning of their journey • "Known to be very reliable"
Despite the tragedies in the plane crash that occurred today (Tuesday) in which a reserve flight instructor and a trainee in a pilot course were killed, this is the first case of its kind to occur in IDF training planes since 2008 and the first of its kind in Swallow. .
The scene of the crash in Nadav, a few minutes after the incident // Photo: The People of Silence
"This is a very reliable aircraft that is easy to operate and is pilot-friendly and training-friendly. I have never had safety issues with it, and it involves hundreds of hours of work," a flight instructor who worked for years in the Air Force pilot course told Israel Today.
The Swallow, or its official name "Grob G-120A", is a German aircraft used for training and aerobatics.
The aircraft, whose development began in the late 1980s, officially went on the market in early 2002, when it was also decided to purchase it from the Air Force to replace the Piper Super-Cub aircraft, so that they could be used as sorting and initial training aircraft in the pilot course.
According to Lt. Col. (Res.) Dubi, who was one of the pilots who were first converted on the plane, he told the Air Force Journal in March 2003 about the conversion process. Grass, landings in severe weather conditions and landings of rape. "
Unlike Piper, the Swallow has a great advantage in the form of the possibility that the instructor can sit next to the trainee and guide him.
Thus, the instructors can locate basic mistakes of the trainee, such as how to hold the stick, the directions of view and more.
At the same time, Lt. Col. Dubi has previously said that the fact that the instructor makes notes in a notebook during the flight can stress the pilot flower and make him think he has made a mistake. We will pay attention to that. "
"This is an aircraft made of very modern and advanced materials, and today it is the only aircraft used in the early days of the pilots in the Air Force," explains the flight instructor.
In fact, as far as is known, so far only two significant safety incidents on the Swallow plane.
Firefighters at the crash site, today // Photo: Liora Ben Tzur Radio South, Newsenders
In one case, which occurred during routine instructor training in 2004, the right wheel of the aircraft refused to open.
The two pilots, Lt. Col. D. and Lt. Col. (Res.) L. contacted the aircraft manufacturer in Germany while flying and went through all the professional literature of the aircraft.
Finally, the two landed safely without a single wheel.
In another case, which occurred in 2014 during a routine flight, a bird smashed the cockpit window on the plane, minutes after Lt. Col. (Res.) Rooney and pilot Noga took off. Rooney was able to land the plane safely.
Accidents in the pilot course and in the Air Force
Although training accidents are relatively unusual, they have certainly been such over the years, and some have taken a heavy toll in the form of the deaths of 14 dead since 2008. The Air Force's last two incidents were in helicopters that Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi was present with. Kochavi was forced to make an emergency landing due to a malfunction.In July this year, the helicopter on which the then chief of staff was present began to dive after the pilots accidentally shut down his two engines following a malfunction in one of them.
The crew managed to take control of it and land it safely only when the helicopter was only 30 meters high.
Two serious incidents also occurred last year: on November 26, a Yasur helicopter on which Sheldag fighters made an emergency landing in the south.
Minutes after landing, the entire helicopter caught fire.
There were no casualties in the incident.
In January of that year, a canopy of an F-16 was detached during a routine training outing near Nabataeans.
In an unusual move, the two pilots managed to land the plane unscathed.
Two years earlier, on August 8, 2017, a serious accident occurred at Ramon base.
An Apache helicopter that made a landing crashed - Major Dudi Zohar was killed and another pilot was seriously injured. In 2013, a Cobra helicopter crashed during a routine training flight, an incident in which Lt. Col. Noam Ron and Major Erez Flexer were killed.
In 2010, one of the worst training accidents in Air Force history occurred.
During training in Romania, a Yasur helicopter crashed on a mountainside, apparently due to heavy fog that befell the place.
Six Air Force staff members were killed: Lt. Col. (Res.) Avner Goldman, Lt. Col. Daniel Schiffenbauer, Major Yahel Keshet, Major Lior Shai, Lt. Nir Lakrif and Lt. Col. Oren Cohen.
That same year a serious incident also occurred in the pilot course.
Tamar Ariel, who was later killed in a disaster in Nepal, performed her first solo flight on a lark.
When it landed, the plane began to deviate from the runway and Ariel abandoned it.
The plane was damaged, Ariel was wounded and later returned to the role of fighter pilot.
In 2009, another tragedy occurred, which struck many echoes in the people of Israel.
Eight years after losing his father, the first Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, his son Assaf crashed on a routine training flight on his F-16 in the southern Hebron Mountains, and was killed.
A year earlier the last serious accident had occurred in the pilot course.
A Tzukit plane on which Matan Asa, the flight instructor's captain, and Lt. Col. Carmi Ilan, the pilot of the flight, crashed near Tselim. The two were killed on the spot. (Res.) Shai Danor was killed.