Jordan military plane crash kills pilot, trainee

Amman, Apr 6: A Jordanian pilot and an Iraqi trainee were killed when a light training aircraft crashed during a routine military excercise on Monday, the Jordanian army said.

A T67 "Firefly aircraft crashed this morning, killing a Jordanian lieutenant colonel and his Iraqi trainee, during a routine training excercise" said Colonel Mamdouh al-Amiri, spokesman for the Jordanian military.

He said the crash occurred over Jordanian soil but did not elaborate on the cause of the accident or its location. The Jordanian military regularly trains Iraqi pilots as part of defence agreements between the two countries, Amiri said.

Local media reported that the crash took place some 70 to 90 kilometres north of the capital Amman.

In September, Jordan joined the US-led coalition of Arab and Western countries carrying out air strikes against the Islamic State group, which controls large parts of Iraq and neighbouring Syria.

In February, it extended air strikes against IS to Iraq after the group released a video of downed F-16 pilot Maaz al-Kassasbeh being burned alive.

Last year a Jordanian air force pilot was killed when his F5 aircraft crashed in eastern Jordan during a training mission. In 2013 a T67 Firefly crashed in the north of the kingdom because ot technical problems, killing the pilot and a trainee.

AFP