PARIS — A French Air Force Mirage 2000D fighter jet crashed during a training flight in northeastern France, killing its pilot and leaving the navigator missing, the country’s air force said on Wednesday.”It appears that at least one of the crew members was not able to eject,” air force spokesman Colonel David Papalardo told Franceinfo radio. One of the crew members was a young trainee pilot and the other was a very experienced weapons officer, he said.Henry Lemoine, mayor of nearby Pont-a-Mousson, said on Facebook that a drone had located the wreckage of the plane and emergency personnel were at the site.The aircraft, operating from Nancy-Ochey air base, crashed late Tuesday in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department near the city of Nancy, according to French broadcaster BFMTV.Authorities confirmed the pilot’s death, while search operations continued for the missing navigator.The crash occurred around 11.35 pm local time (2135GMT) in an area between the villages of Rogeville, Domevre-en-Haye and Tremblecourt, north of Nancy.A crisis coordination center was established in Rogeville, while local authorities warned of possible traffic disruptions in the surrounding area.A judicial investigation has been opened to determine the circumstances and cause of the crash.The two-seater Mirage 2000D model of fighter jet entered service in 1993. France has used it in conflicts in Kosovo in 1999, Libya in 2011, in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Syria and in Africa’s Sahel region.PARIS — A French Air Force Mirage 2000D fighter jet crashed during a training flight in northeastern France, killing its pilot and leaving the navigator missing, the country’s air force said on Wednesday.”It appears that at least one of the crew members was not able to eject,” air force spokesman Colonel David Papalardo told Franceinfo radio. One of the crew members was a young trainee pilot and the other was a very experienced weapons officer, he said.Henry Lemoine, mayor of nearby Pont-a-Mousson, said on Facebook that a drone had located the wreckage of the plane and emergency personnel were at the site.The aircraft, operating from Nancy-Ochey air base, crashed late Tuesday in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department near the city of Nancy, according to French broadcaster BFMTV.Authorities confirmed the pilot’s death, while search operations continued for the missing navigator.The crash occurred around 11.35 pm local time (2135GMT) in an area between the villages of Rogeville, Domevre-en-Haye and Tremblecourt, north of Nancy.A crisis coordination center was established in Rogeville, while local authorities warned of possible traffic disruptions in the surrounding area.A judicial investigation has been opened to determine the circumstances and cause of the crash.The two-seater Mirage 2000D model of fighter jet entered service in 1993. France has used it in conflicts in Kosovo in 1999, Libya in 2011, in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Syria and in Africa’s Sahel region.
French fighter jet crashes during training flight, killing pilot
