ISRAEL AIR FORCE HALTS TRAINING EXERCISES AFTER SAFETY-RELATED INCIDENTS

Tel Aviv, 9 Jumadil Awwal 1436/28 February 2015 (MINA) –  Israeli Air Force Commander Amir Eshel has ordered a day-long halt to all fighter squadron training exercises on Thursday due to a series of safety-related incidents over the past week that air force sources called “serious.” Instead, he ordered classroom lessons and lectures on safety be held.

The Israel Defense Forces added however, that regular operational activities and preparedness for security threats would not be affected by the groundings, Haaretz quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

At the beginning of the week, it was decided to halt all flights for half a day after a safety-related incident in which two F-15 fighter jets nearly collided in midair. The commander of the squadron involved ordered that the pilot of one of the jets face military proceedings, claiming that the incident resulted from the pilot’s failure to observe proper discipline. The pilot was sentenced to five days in military prison.

On Wednesday, in a separate incident, an F-16 fighter jet flew too close to a Hercules C-130 transport plane (known as a “Karnaf” in Hebrew). It was decided following this incident to halt all fighter plane training for an additional 24 hours.

In separate incidents this week, a motor vehicle entered a runway just before an aircraft was due to take off, and an F-16I (“Sufa” in Hebrew) jet was damaged when a bird hit its cockpit, although this incident did not involve human error. (T/P010/P3)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)