Storm Celia kicked up an unusually large quantity of sand and dust from the Sahara Desert which has since made its way across Europe, cloaking Spain and other countries in an eerie orange glow.
Swiss Air Force F-5E Tiger Aircraft Crashes In Central Switzerland. Pilot Successfully Ejects.
Swiss Air Force F-5E Tiger Aircraft Crashes In Central Switzerland. Pilot Successfully Ejects.
File photo of J-3089 arriving at the 2016 Royal International Air Tattoo, RAF Fairford, UK. (Image credit: Adrian Pingstone)
Impressive photographs showing the pilot ejecting from the Swiss Air Force F-5 before the crash have been published on social media.
A Northrop F-5E Tiger II jet of the Swiss Air Force crashed around 09.00AM LT on May 26, 2021, near Melchsee-Frutt, in central Switzerland. The pilot successfully ejected from the aircraft.
According to the details released by the Swiss MOD, the Tiger had taken off from Payerne Air Base, and was involved in an air-to-air training mission, flying as an adversary (“sparring partner”) for a Swiss Air Force F/A-18 Hornet, when the incident occurred.
January 3, 2021
The Swiss Air Force is now finally attained full operational readiness to protect the country with F/A-18 fighter jets. In a statement issued on 29th December, the Swiss military announced the round-the-clock quick-reaction availability of two F-18s for protection of the nation’s airspace.
“From now on, the air police service will be on call 24 hours a day to guarantee the security and the sovereignty over Swiss airspace,” the statement said.
Before this announcement, the Swiss Air Force used to be available only from 8:00 AM till 12:00 PM, and after ‘lunch break’ from 13:30-17:30 PM, that too only on weekdays. The force had been criticized and mocked the world over for its inability to maintain operational readiness.