Swiss F/A-18 fighter jet crashes, 2 crew missing from training run

[Hafizzz]

http://ca.news.**********/f-18-fighter-jets-crashes-central-switzerland-fate-144212765--finance.html

GENEVA - A Swiss F/A-18 two-seater fighter jet crashed in poor weather in central Switzerland and the pilot and a passenger were missing, the military said Wednesday.

The Swiss Federal Department of Defence confirmed the fighter jet went down around noon near a military airport in Alpnachstad in the Lake Lucerne region.

Swiss Air Force Commander Lt. Aldo Schellenberg told reporters the plane was one of two F/A-18s that had taken off from the Meiringen air base in canton (state) Bern on a training mission.

The other plane, a one-seater, returned safely to Meiringen a couple hours later.

Armed Forces Chief Lt. Gen. Andre Blattmann said the images collected so far from the crash raised fears that the two missing crew had not survived. "There's no hard evidence, but we cannot be confident," he said.

Military officials said the fighter jet was unarmed when it hit a cliff overlooking Lake Alpnach. It also wasn't clear whether the ejector seat was activated.

A helicopter and emergency services were deployed at the crash site. A nearby railway line and road were closed.

In the mid-1990s, the Swiss Air Force acquired more than 30 of the F/A-18s. This is the second crash involving one of the fleet.

The last jet went down in 1998 in the Swiss Alps, killing the two pilots and injuring several others.

 

[ejaz007]

Bodies, Black Box Found After Swiss Fighter Jet Crash

GENEVA — Rescuers have recovered the bodies of the two people on board a Swiss army fighter jet that crashed into a mountainside, as well as the aircraft’s black box, the defense ministry said Thursday.

“Both people onboard the F/A-18 fighter jet that crashed yesterday have been found dead,” the ministry said in a statement.

The F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet was one of two that took off in the canton of Bern on Wednesday for a training mission, but it crashed shortly after into a cliff overlooking a branch of Lake Lucerne.

A professional air force pilot and his passenger, an air force doctor taking part in the training exercise, were killed in the crash.

Rescue workers had recovered both bodies and an autopsy had been ordered, the defense ministry said.

The aircraft’s black box had also been salvaged and was being examined. Depending on the condition of the box, the examination could take “days or even weeks,” the ministry added.

The army has launched an investigation into why the crash happened and has temporarily suspended all flights by its fleet of McDonnell Douglas single- and double-seated F/A-18s, which before Wednesday’s accident counted 33 fighters.

Another of the Swiss Hornets crashed in Crans-Montana in the south of the country in 1998, killing both pilots.

http://www.defensenews.com/article/20131024/DEFREG01/310240020/Bodies-Black-Box-Found-After-Swiss-Fighter-Jet-Crash

 

[ApparentRaceTraitor]

Tragic.....R.I.P , the loss of two individuals is far greater than the loss of a beautiful bird....see them flying over my university in Switzerland almost every week, but the weather has been weird over the last week. Mother Nature is beautiful, but she is also ruthless....

 

[flamer84]

May they rest in Peace.