Two F-16s crash in Ardennes

9 December 2003

BRUSSELS – A pilot was reported to have died after two Belgian F-16 air force jets crashed during a military exercise Tuesday.

Another pilot managed to eject and was taken to hospital suffering from shock.

The accident happened at midday above woodland in the Marche-en-Famenne area in the south of the country. There was no damage to property on the ground following the crash.

It was not clear what caused this accident. One theory is that the planes collided with each other during the exercise.

The F-16s took off from the air force base of Kleine Brogel in Limburg to practise a Forward Air Controller or FAC, a technique in which an air traffic controller guides pilots to their target.

The accident brings to four the number of fighter planes lost during exercises in Belgium in the past year.

Subject: Belgian news