World Jewish News

Israeli Cobra helicopter [file] Photo: REUTERS

Two pilots die in helicopter crash during IAF exercise

An Air Force Cobra helicopter on a training flight crashed south of Gadera overnight on Monday, killing the pilot and navigator on board.
The Israel Air Force lost contact with the attack helicopter after 1 a.m., as it flew near Kibbutz Revadim en route to the Palmahim airbase.
The aircraft was flown by an experienced air crew and was on a routine training flight, the IDF said.
A ground and air search - including the use of drones - was launched after radio contact ceased. Rescuers located wreckage shortly after 5 a.m.
Israel Air Force chief Maj.-Gen. Amir Eshel grounded all Cobra helicopters pending the result of an investigation into the circumstances of the crash.
The Cobra helicopter known in Hebrew as the "Tzefa" was involved in two other air disasters in recent years. In September 2008, two soldiers died in a Cobra crash in the Galillee and in March 1998 two soldiers in a crash of the same model over the Mediterranean.
In 1997 the IDF suffered the largest aviation disaster in its history when two CH-53 Yasour helicopters collided in the north of the country killing 73 soldiers. In July 2010 another CH-53 helicopter crashed in Romania killing six Israeli soldiers and one Romanian soldier.

JPost.com