Two Saudi fighter aircraft crashed during training Wednesday but their pilots managed to parachute to safety, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported. It quoted a Defense Ministry official as saying the two Hawk aircraft brushed one another while performing "difficult and dangerous" air maneuvers before crashing at an airbase in the northwest of the Kingdom.
Earlier this year, a Royal Saudi Arabian Air Force F-15 fighter has crashed during a night training flight, killing the two pilots aboard, Pilot Major Fahd Abdullah Al-Zamel and Captain Terad Murayei Al-Shahrani. The advanced combat aircraft went down about 90 miles west of King Abdulaziz Airbase Air Base in the Eastern Province.
Last year was deadly for the Royal Saudi Arabian Air Force, as numerous crashes have brought about the deaths of highly trained pilots and the loss of expensive aircraft. In addition to nine Saudi pilots killed, a visiting French pilot also found his death in a training flight over Saudi Arabia. (Albawaba.com)
