4 Thai Jets Crash as Nation Celebrates Air Force Founding
Three Thai air force F5-E fighter-bombers crashed Friday in heavy rains in northeast Thailand as they were heading to Bangkok for an air show, officials reported. At the show itself, a trainer jet crashed after being hit in the tail by another aircraft.
Police said all three F5-E pilots were killed when the planes slammed into a cliff and burst into flames about 100 miles northeast of Bangkok. No other crewmen were aboard.
About five minutes later at Bangkok’s military airport, a Cessna A-37 training jet crashed in a downpour after it was brushed by another aircraft during a maneuver, the air force secretary, Air Vice Marshal Sommot Sundaravej, said. One man was killed and one parachuted to safety.
Part of the A-37’s tail section was torn off in the accident, which occurred when the plane was leaving a formation with other jets. The other plane landed safely.
The air show, in which 102 aircraft participated, was staged to mark the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the Royal Thai Air Force.
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