A Brazilian Air Force fighter jet crashed during a routine military exercise. Both pilots ejected safely. The airplane was destroyed.
An A-1B fighter from the Brazilian Air Force crashed during training in the city of Viamão, about 15 km from Porto Alegre (RS).
The aircraft crashed and caught fire soon after in an open field in the rural area of the city.
According to the Fire Department, both pilots were able to eject as the aircraft began to lose altitude. The pilots were rescued by a SAR helicopter and taken to medical evaluations.
The #ForçaAéreaBrasileira lost an A-1B (local name for the Italian built AMX trainer jet) at Viamão, in Passo do Vigário, while it was participating in an exercise practising BVR engagements. https://t.co/LHNzPR89Fa #avgeek #crash #BeyondVisualRange pic.twitter.com/t5aGaKOsHi
— Scramble (@scramble_nl) April 6, 2019
The plane was participating in a series of aerial combat exercises that have been taking place in the region
The aircraft, part of the Centaur Squadron of Ala 4 in Santa Maria which serves to train pilots for combat beyond visual range (BVR).
According to the FAB, the accident happened after the pilots detected a technical fault in the aircraft and that when they realized the problem, they directed the hunt to an uninhabited area, where the pilots were dropped and ejected.
The aircraft involved in the crash was an AMX A-1B fighter used for FAB aerial reconnaissance and reconnaissance missions. The aircraft was produced in Brazil in the early 1990s by a consortium between Embraer and two Italian aircraft manufacturers.
