Army announces causes of two aircraft crashes
The People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) announced preliminary conclusions on the causes of two tragic military aircraft crashes which occurred this month on June 24.
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| (From left to right) Senior Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Duc Hao, Major Nguyen Van Chinh and Colonel Le Kiem Toan after they landed the CASA 212 aircraft on Truong Sa island for the first time on June 2, 2016. They were among the nine crew members of the ill-fated aircraft. |
This preliminary conclusion was based on information given by surviving pilot Nguyen Huu Cuong, Tuan said.
“We will have to assess other objective factors for further investigation.”
Regarding the CASA-212 aircraft crash that killed nine crew members, Tuan said the weather was abnormal and unstable during the flight.
The ill-fated CASA-212 was on a search mission for the SU30 when it crashed, and this may be part of the reason the aircraft crashed, Tuan said.
“Aircrafts tend to stay low during search and rescue missions,” he said. “Weather and altitude could be factors which combined to cause the accident.”
“We are still looking for CASA-212’s black box. We will use the black box information and other factors to reach our final conclusions.”
On June 14, the Russian-made fighter jet SU30MK2 (coded 8585 of Regiment 923 under Division 371 of the Air Defence – Air Force Service) crashed into the sea during a training session above the waters off Nghe An-Thanh Hoa provinces, 40km to the northeast of Hon Mat Island. Its two pilots, Senior Lieutenant Colonel Tran Quang Khai and Major Nguyen Huu Cuong, parachuted but only Cuong survived.
Two days later, while looking for signs of the SU30 jet in the Tonkin Gulf, the surveillance aircraft CASA-212 (coded 8983 of Brigade 918 of the Air Defence – Air Force) went missing, along with its nine crew members. The aircraft went down about 15 nautical miles to the south-southeast of Bach Long Vy Island, 2.7 nautical miles to the west of the Vietnam-China delimitation line in the Gulf of Tonkin.
Search teams retrieved key parts of the aircraft at a depth of 50-60m, including the body, tail, propeller, and personal items of crew members. They also found bodies at the accident site, which were identified as some of the plane’s crew members.
