Two French military planes crashed in mid-air today as the pilots were forced to bail out. Shocking footage of the crash, which occurred over the Saint-Dizier airbase, was posted on X.
The user wrote: “Accident involving two Patrouille de France Alpha Jets over the Saint-Dizier airbase in the north east of France. The pilots bailed out. Let’s hope that there were no casualties. The emergency services are already on site.” The incident occurred at around 15:40pm near Air Base 113 during a training drill which included seven Alpha Jets. At least three people were involved in the collision, including a pilot who was taken to hospital.
The Patrouille de France is a French Air Force aerobatic team responsible for plane demonstrations – similar to the British Red Arrows. The French Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, confirmed the crash.
He said in a post: “Emergency services are being mobilized, and coordination is being ensured between the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of the Armed Forces.”
One clip posted online shows two planes careering towards the ground as pilots appeared to eject from the aircraft. A second video shows the same incident but from further away as red, blue and white flares are seen trailing in the sky.
The crash is thought to have caused damage to a company building after the planes hit the ground. The Calin company in Villiers-en-Lieu was affected by the crash and a fire started. One of the planes crashed into the Calin silos in Saint-Dizier, while the other is thought to have landed in a canal.
“We saw black smoke, we didn’t expect it to be like that at all, we were really shocked,” a witness called Emma told French news outlet BFMTV. While another, Caroline, described it as an “explosion” and added that “it happened very quickly (…) there were wingtips on the side of the road, it was quite shocking.”
Another exercise was also scheduled to take place later tonight but it is unclear if this will now go ahead. The Patrouille de France’s demonstrations have taken place in Paris for national holidays such as Bastille Day on July 14.
The city of Saint-Dizier said last week that the French Aerobatic Patrol would be present from Monday, March 24 to Friday, March 28, for training sessions every day between 11am and 12pm and then between 3pm and 4pm, subject to weather conditions.
“They were performing a demonstration when two touched in flight,” one witness said. The Air Force team confirmed that both pilots and one passenger were able to eject and were “found conscious”.
Along with Alpha jets, a trainer and ground attack aircraft that made its first flight in 1973 were also involved in the crash. It has been in service with the French Air Force since 1977 and from 1981 it has been the flagship aircraft of the Patrouille de France.
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