VideoAn Italian Air Force fighter jet crashed Saturday afternoon during a training flight near Turin airport. The aircraft hit the ground on the airport grounds shortly after take-off, causing a huge firestorm and then colliding with a car. A 5-year-old girl who was in the car was killed.
Italian media report this and the country’s Ministry of Defense confirms this in a press release. It concerns an aircraft from the Frecce Tricolori – a division of the Italian air force that provides (acrobatic) demonstration flights – that was practicing for a performance on Sunday in honor of a centenary of the country’s air force.
Images of the crash are circulating on social media. It shows two V formations flying over the airport in northern Italy. In one of the formations, a fighter jet – according to the ministry an MB-339 – is flying lower and lower. At one point the pilot shoots himself to safety in his seat. Soon afterwards he floats down on a parachute. The aircraft has now hit the ground beneath him, causing a huge sea of fire.
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The plane, or debris from the fighter jet, then hit a car on a road near the airport. The twelve-year-old brother of the deceased girl was seriously injured and taken to a hospital with burns. The children’s parents and the fighter pilot also suffered minor injuries. They also all suffer from burns.
Major Oscar Del Thu
“The patrol had barely taken off (…) when the aircraft, piloted by Major Oscar Del Do, lost altitude for reasons unknown at the moment and crashed to the ground,” the Italian Ministry of Defense press release said. ‘The pilot managed to shoot himself into the air just before impact. It is not possible at this time to confirm the causes of the accident. One of the hypotheses being considered, given the dynamics of the event, is a collision with a bird during the first phases of takeoff.”
The pilot reported, according to the newspaper La Repubblica told his team leader that he had an engine problem. He is said to have immediately initiated the procedure to abandon the plane, so that the plane would not crash above San Francesco al Campo, the residential community next to the airport. According to the newspaper, initial reconstructions show that a burning part of the plane broke off and landed on the family’s car.
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Cancelled
According to the ministry, the girl’s family had driven to the airport to watch the stunt team exercises. The airport was closed for some time as a result of the accident.
The Frecce Tricolori were the highlight of an aviation festival at the airport this weekend and they were also due to close the event on Sunday. The event was part of celebrations of the centenary of the Italian Air Force. The event in Turin was immediately canceled.
Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini also shared the video on X, the former Twitter. He calls the accident ‘a terrible tragedy’.
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