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Lieutenant General Pham Truong Son, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army (center), directs search efforts at the scene. Photo: Truong Dinh

According to Tien Phong reporter, at 0:00 on November 7, Colonel Nguyen Van Son, Commander of Air Force Regiment 940, was safely brought out of the forest by rescue forces.

After changing clothes, Colonel Son was taken by ambulance to Military Hospital 13 for further monitoring and medical treatment.

Colonel Son's health condition is relatively stable, with only a few minor scratches.

Colonel Nguyen Van Son was one of two pilots who parachuted in the military plane crash in Binh Dinh that occurred on the morning of November 6.

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Ambulances were mobilized to help take the pilots to the hospital. Photo: Truong Dinh
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Colonel Nguyen Van Son's condition is relatively stable, he can walk normally, and was transferred to Military Hospital 13 for further monitoring and treatment. Photo: Truong Dinh

At around 0:40 a.m. the same day, Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Hong Quan, Flight Commander of Air Force Regiment 940, was also supported by functional forces to be brought out of the forest safely.

After changing into dry clothes, Lieutenant Colonel Quan was also taken by ambulance to Military Hospital 13 for further monitoring and treatment.

Colonel Quan was the rear cabin pilot on the crashed plane.

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Bringing Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Hong Quan (middle) down the mountain safely. Photo: Truong Dinh

Mr. Nguyen Van Lien - Deputy Squadron Leader, Squadron 1, Regiment 940, who was in the team that found the two pilots, said: Immediately after receiving the mission, after determining the initial suspected location in Vinh An commune (Tay Son district), the forces began to move to the area to search.

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Mr. Nguyen Van Lien. Photo: Truong Dinh

According to Mr. Lien, at 6:00 p.m. on November 6, from Vinh An commune, the mobile forces went to the location, and at around 8:00 p.m. the same day, they found pilot Quan, and at around 10:00 p.m. they found pilot Son. The search encountered many difficulties.

Directly present to direct the search work, Lieutenant General Pham Truong Son, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army, was very happy and highly appreciated the search work of the forces. Especially the coordination and quick and accurate deployment.

According to Lieutenant General Pham Truong Son, the search process encountered many difficulties due to heavy rain, strong winds, fast-flowing rivers, deep forests, and peaks up to 800m high.

However, the units deployed many technical methods such as sending helicopters to search, and road forces in all directions, deployed effectively and quickly searched and brought the two pilots back safely.

Lieutenant General Son said that a preliminary meeting will be held to review the experience. On November 7, units will search for the crashed plane's location, then decode the black box to find out why the front and left landing gears deployed but the right landing gear did not deploy.

According to the Lieutenant General, this is one of the extremely complicated unexpected situations, the pilot's instructions stated that he had to parachute.

The Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army added that when the plane could not land, the pilots flew the plane into the mountains to parachute, about 20km from the airport, but the plane crashed about 30km from the airport.

"I must say I was very worried and felt sorry for my brothers in such a situation, with the rain and wind, but they overcame it with determination, bravery, as well as the combined efforts of the entire force," Lieutenant General Pham Truong Son shared.

As Tien Phong reported, on the morning of November 6, Air Force Regiment 940 of the Air Force Officer School (Air Defense - Air Force) organized a training flight right at Phu Cat airport, with the Iak-130 aircraft (registration number 210 D).

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The forces organized a search and determined the location of the pilots after receiving signals. Photo: Truong Dinh

The flight crew consisted of Colonel Nguyen Van Son - Commander of Air Force Regiment 940, flying in the front cabin and Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Hong Quan - Flight Director of Air Force Regiment 940, flying in the back cabin.

This was the third flight and the second flight of the front cabin pilot on the flight crew for the day.

The plane took off at 9:55. At 10:38, when finishing the return flight, the pilot reported that the plane's landing gear could not be released. At the same time, he took emergency measures to handle the landing gear release situation but still failed.

The pilots reported to the flight commander and were allowed to parachute. The two pilots parachuted at 10:51 a.m. at the TB2 Shooting Range in Tay Son (Binh Dinh). By the evening of the same day, both pilots had contacted the unit to report their location.

According to Tien Phong