The flight instructor and cadet in the pilot course are two army men killed in the swallow plane crash near Kibbutz Mishmar Hanegev • IDF investigators plan to work at the crash scene throughout the night, before the rain that is expected to fall tomorrow will wash away the evidence at the scene
The late Major Itai Zeiden and the late Corporal Lihu Ben-Bessa are the two army men who were killed this morning (Tuesday) in the swallow plane crash near Kibbutz Mishmar Hanegev in the south of the country. In addition, the IDF intends to work in the arena throughout the night Investigate the reasons that led to the plane crash before the rain that is expected to fall tomorrow will wash over the arena.
The scene of the crash in Nadav, a few minutes after the incident // Photo: The People of Silence
According to an IDF spokesman, "Around 11:35, a swallow-type plane of the flight school crashed in an open area near Kibbutz Mishmar Hanegev.
This is a training flight as part of the training of a pilot course.
"In the crash, the flight instructor was killed, a reserve officer who had recently been released and at the same time served as a quartet leader in the F-16 Squadron. The second person killed is a trainee in a pilot's course for four months."
The two performed the flight as part of the preparation phase, "Check 15", in which the pilots' abilities in the air are tested.
The four-week phase includes 15 training flights on Swallow, a two-seater aircraft that was absorbed into the Air Force in 2002 and replaced the Tzukit.
The flight route opens at Hatzerim base and from there it usually continues east and back.
The crash site is very close to the flight path of the pilot course trainees.
"There was no unusual practice here," said Brigadier General Zilberman. "This is a routine and normal flight pattern, in good weather."
My son Lihu Muhammad Nefshi was killed in a training accident in a pilot's course on a plane that crashed this morning in Rahat.
Posted by Shlomo Benbassa on Tuesday, November 24, 2020
A post published by the father of the late Private Benevessa
Brigadier General Zilberman later stated that the Air Force commander had convened all parties involved in the incident, and it was decided to stop the training and training flights from today at 16:00 until further notice. The Air Force commander also decided to appoint a team of experts under Colonel Command to investigate the incident. .
Earlier today, a flight instructor who had worked for years in the Air Force pilot course told Israel Today that the Swallow plane is "very reliable and easy to operate. It is pilot friendly and training. I have never had safety issues with it, and it takes hundreds of hours of work." .
The guide also said that "this is an aircraft made of very modern and advanced materials, and today it is the only aircraft used by the pilots in the Air Force at the beginning of the journey," the flight instructor explains.