Defense Minister: Plane crashed quickly, 2 pilots calmly steered away from populated areas

The Minister of Defense stated that in a very short moment, the plane was at low altitude, falling very quickly and dangerously, but the pilots remained calm and brave, flying away from densely populated areas and parachuting safely.

On November 7, General Phan Van Giang, Minister of National Defense, sent a letter of commendation and recognition to leaders and commanders of functional agencies at all levels in the Air Defense - Air Force.

Previously, on November 6, Air Force Regiment 940 organized a daily training flight at Phu Cat airport, Binh Dinh province.

When completing the mission, the plane was piloted back to the airport to land when it encountered a technical problem, the landing gear could not be released, the pilots urgently took emergency measures to save the plane but were unable to do so. The flight commander ordered the pilot to parachute.

IMG_4DC60CBA3C87 1.jpg — Lieutenant General Pham Truong Son, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army and Chairman of Binh Dinh Provincial People's Committee Pham Anh Tuan visited the two pilots. Photo: Binh Dinh Newspaper

"In a very short moment, the plane was at low altitude, falling very quickly, endangering lives, but the pilots remained calm, bravely controlled the plane away from densely populated areas and parachuted safely, causing no damage," the letter from the Minister of Defense stated.

On behalf of the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defense, General Phan Van Giang praised and commended the leaders and commanders of functional agencies at all levels in the Air Defense - Air Force for closely directing and organizing training tasks and combat readiness.

The Minister commended the Air Force Officer School, Regiment 940 and the officers, staff and soldiers in the flight team for doing a good job of preparing, organizing tight flight command, and promptly and flexibly handling situations that arose.

General Phan Van Giang praised Colonel Nguyen Van Son and Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Hong Quan for their qualifications, extensive training experience, bravery, and determination, for remaining calm, confident, not afraid of sacrifice, correctly identifying opportunities, and promptly handling unforeseen situations in the air.

According to the Minister of Defense, that action demonstrates the training level, combat readiness of the Air Defense - Air Force and responsibility for the people and the Fatherland.

The leaders of the Ministry of National Defense requested the Standing Party Committee and the Air Defense - Air Force Command to urgently direct the organization to draw lessons and propose commendations and rewards for collectives and individuals in handling the flight incident of Regiment 940.

Minister Phan Van Giang hopes that soldiers will continue to promote the noble qualities of "Uncle Ho's soldiers", proactively and creatively overcome difficulties, and strive to excellently complete all assigned tasks...

Accident progress

The Air Force Officer School (Air Defense - Air Force) said today that this was the third flight, the second flight of the front cabin pilot in the flight crew of the day.

The flight crew includes take-off and landing commanders, pilots, logistics and technical support members, and search and rescue forces.

Colonel Nguyen Van Son, Regiment Commander and Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Hong Quan, Flight Director of the Regiment directly practiced the flight crew controlling the Yak-130 aircraft with serial number 210D.

At 9:42, the pilot turned on the engine and took off at 9:54. After completing the third round of landing, the pilot released the landing gear but it did not come out. The pilot attempted to release the landing gear in an emergency but it still did not come out. The flight commander then ordered the pilot to gain altitude and perform an overload maneuver, but the landing gear still did not come out.

The flight commander continued to order the pilot to fly over to check the landing gear and discovered that the landing gear was not open. Then, the flight commander ordered the pilot to gain altitude, flying towards the parachute area in the area of the National Military Training Center 2 and the two pilots parachuted at 10:51. The parachute area is in Binh Loc village, Binh Hoa commune, Tay Son district, Binh Dinh province.

Immediately after the incident, the Air Defense - Air Force took the lead and coordinated with forces of Military Region 5 and localities to urgently organize a search.

On the evening of November 6, the search and rescue team successfully located Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Hong Quan at a location in Tay Phu Commune, Tay Son District. At 10:10 p.m., they found Colonel Nguyen Van Son, more than 1km from where Colonel Quan was found.

Currently, the health of the two pilots is stable and they are being cared for at Military Hospital 13, Military Region 5.