Story by Charlie Bradley, Jon King
A military aircraft has crashed in Turkey sparking a huge fireball as emergency services raced to the scene. Turkish media reports that the aircraft crashed during a training flight on Wednesday (August 12) and the pilot managed to eject before it smashed into the ground.
Turkey’s Ministry of National Defence said one of its Air Force F-16 aircraft crashed during a training flight in the northwestern province of Yalova. The ministry said the pilot survived. It said the cause of the crash will be confirmed after an investigation
Video, which has not been independently verified by this publication, shows thick black smoke and a massive blaze following the crash.
News of the incident comes after a F-16 jet crash landed onto the tarmac at Zakynthos Aiport in July. The Hellenic Air Force said the aircraft developed a technical fault during a training flight.
Greek media reported that the plane caught fire while airborne, but the pilot also survived. The aircraft was part of the 335 Squadron of the 116th Combat Wing based at Araxos Air Base in western Greece.
That incident led to travel chaos for hundreds of tourists at the airport, with flights delayed and diverted to Athens as the emergency services dealt with the crash.
Today’s crash in Turkey follows one of the deadliest military incidents in the country since 2020 when a C-130 Hercules crashed in November last year.
The 20 personnel on board the NATO plane died in the crash in Georgia’s eastern border region.
Georgia’s air traffic control service said the plane vanished from radar soon after entering the country’s airspace. The service said the pilots did not issue a distress call.
NATO’S Secretary-General, Mark Rutte, offered his “deepest condolences” to Turkey and to the families of those who died.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he was “deeply saddened” by what happened.
The C-130 is used by Turkey’s armed forces to transport personnel and for logistical operations.
