A MiG21 Lancer aircraft has crashed on Monday in Constanta County, 8 kilometres away from the Mihail Kogalniceanu military air base, between the localities of Nazarcea, Culmea and Ovidiu, shortly after taking off the airport at 11:14h for a training flight, digi24.ro informs.
According to the first information, they are no victims, the pilot succeeding in catapulting.
Mihail Kogalniceanu airport spokesman Adrian Jiga has told digi24.ro that the aircraft’s pilot is Romanian.
The aircraft belongs to the 86th Romanian Air Force Fleet. The pilot is conscious and is now on the way to Constanta County Hospital by helicopter. According to Constanta Ambulance spokesperson, Claudia Tatarici, the pilot has suffered spinal column traumas.
The latest news informs that the pilot is conscious and is in a critical situation. Dr. Claudia Tatarici has announced later on Monday that the doctors of the Emergency County Clinical Hospital Constanta decided that the pilot would be transferred to a Bucharest hospital by plane.
Meanwhile, the fire-fighters have arrived at the crash site and have succeeded in putting out the fire.
Lieutenant-Commander Adrian Stancu, pilot on a MiG 21 LanceR aircraft of the Romanian Air Force, catapulted on Monday, near Mihail Kogalniceanu Airport, after reporting a major engine failure. The aircraft was conducting a training mission, according to the Defence Ministry (MoD).
“The aircraft, which belongs to the 86th Romanian Air Force base ‘Lieutenant Gheorghe Mociorniţă’, took off at about 10.00h from the Mihail Kogălniceanu air base to carry out a training mission within the Thracian Eagle 2017 exercise, conducted together with the Bulgarian air forces,” a MoD press release informs.
After the mission, on his return to Mihail Kogalniceanu, while attempting to land, the pilot reported a major engine failure. According to the procedures, he catapulted, and the aircraft crashed outside the inhabited areas.
The case is being investigated by the Military Prosecutor’s Office, and the circumstances of the incident will be investigated by a commission appointed by the Air Forces Chief of Staff.