- The second crew member is being searched for after the aircraft crashed on Tuesday evening close to its air base on the outskirts of Nancy.
The French air force said on Wednesday, October 21, that a French Mirage 2000D fighter jet crashed in northeastern France during a training flight, killing at least one crew member.
Colonel David Papalardo, an air force spokesperson, told Franceinfo radio, “It appears that at least one of the crew members was not able to eject.” According to him, one of the crew members was a rookie pilot in training, while the other was a highly skilled weapons officer.
The Mirage 2000D’s crew consisted of a fighter pilot and a weapons systems officer (WSO) from the French Air and Space Force. Search operations and investigations are ongoing. One body had been recovered (awaiting identification). The search for the second crew member continues.
The Mirage 2000D fighter jet entered service in 1993. It was deployed in conflicts around the world, Kosovo in 1999, Libya in 2011, in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Syria and in Africa’s Sahel region, a fleet upgrade program for the Mirage 2000Ds, has just been completed and should keep the jets in service into the 2030s.
