A HAIC/PAC K-8E Karakorum jet trainer of the Al Quwwat Al Jawwiya Il Misriya crashed on 28 January 2019. Unfortunately the pilot died in the accident.
Initially it was reported that a Dasault Rafale was involved in this accident, but this turned out to be incorrect. It is reported that the pilot of the unfortunate K-8 was a Rafale pilot.
Several media outlets reported that a Rafale fighter jet belonging to the Al Quwwat Al Jawwiya Il Misriya (Egyptian Air Force, EAF) crashed during a training sortie which coincided with French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Cairo. Major Mohtady “Cobra” Shazly of the 203rd Tactical Fighter Wing was reportedly killed in the accident.
The pilot killed in the K-8 accident was a Rafale pilot. Actually, he was one of the first Egypt pilots flying the Rafale
“The Armed Forced did not give us full information about the circumstances of his death, telling us he died in a routine training mission,” a relative of Shazly told The New Arab’s Arabic edition, asking not to be named.
It comes at an embarrassing time for both Egypt and France as Emmanuel Macron visits Egypt, an initial report on the Egypt Defense Review blog suggested the crash involved a Rafale, citing unnamed sources.
The K-8E is developed for export to Egypt, and eighty were delivered to the EAF from 1999. Most aircraft were assembled in Egypt from Chinese-supplied kits.
The delivery was completed by 2005. At the same time, Egypt ordered forty more K-8Es which were delivered by 2010. The trainers are believed to all be based at El Minya air base (Egypt), assigned to the Flying Training Brigade, 201 squadron.
