Mirage 2000D fighter jet crashes in northeastern France, at least one crew member dead
A French Air Force Mirage 2000D fighter jet crashed near Nancy during a training flight. At least one of the two crew members has died, and the search for the other continues.
A French Air Force Mirage 2000D jet fighter crashed during a training flight in northeastern France, near the Nancy air base. At least one crew member has died, the air force announced on Wednesday. The search for the second crew member is continuing.
The aircraft went down on Tuesday at about 11 p.m. Colonel David Pappalardo, the air force's spokesman for press relations, told the radio station franceinfo that at least one crew member appears not to have been able to eject, meaning to leave the aircraft in an emergency using an ejection seat.
The crew consisted of two people: a young trainee and a highly experienced officer.
The scene
Local resident Henri Lemoine wrote on Facebook that wreckage of the aircraft had already been located with the help of a drone. Rescue workers are at the site.
Earlier incidents
France has used this model of aircraft in conflicts in Kosovo in 1999 and Libya in 2011, as well as in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and the Sahel region of Africa.
Several of these aircraft have been involved in crashes before. In January 2019, both crew members were killed in eastern France when the aircraft was flying a low-altitude night flight. In July 2021, the crew managed to eject when the aircraft crashed near Nancy.
