Air Force jet crashes in southwest Angola, killing 1

Air Force jet crashes in southwest Angola, killing 1

2011-09-17 00:59:19 GMT+7 (ICT)

LUBANGO (BNO NEWS) -- A pilot was killed on Thursday when his fighter jet crashed in southwestern Angola, state-run media reported on Friday. It is the second plane crash in the country in as many days.

The accident happened at around 10.30 a.m. local time when the Sukhoi Su-17 aircraft, a Soviet attack aircraft which is also known as a Fitter under its NATO reporting name, crashed in Lubango, the capital city of Huila province in southwest Angola.

The state-run Angola Press (ANGOP) reported that Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Joao Firmino, who was the head of the Standardization and Training of the Angolan National Air Force, was killed in the crash. ANGOP said Firmino was doing routine maneuvers when the accident happened.

An investigation into the cause of the accident has been launched.

The accident happened only a day after another Air Force plane, an Embraer 120 aircraft, crashed at Albano Machado Airport near Huambo, the capital of the province with the same name. A total of 23 people were on board, of whom 17 were killed.

Angola's deadliest ever plane crash happened in December 1995 when a Trans Service Airlift plane carrying 144 people crashed after taking off from Jamba Airport near Cahungula, killing all but three people on board.

And in November 1983, all 130 people on board a Boeing 737 were killed when the plane crashed near Lubango, the capital city of the province of Huíla. Although authorities said the crash was caused by a technical failure, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) claimed to have shot it down with a surface-to-air missile.

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