French Mirage jet collides with Lithuanian plane

[On_Loan]

Being reported here and elsewhere:

BBC News - Nato fighter in mid-air collision with Lithuanian plane (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14715235)

Thankfully reported that all involved survived

[green granite]

Lithuania's defence ministry said the Lithuanian military L-39ZA "Albatross" jet and French "Mirage 2000" fighter collided in mid-air during Nato exercises at the Siauliai base.

The two Lithuanian pilots were able to eject successfully and were found uninjured. The French military plane, although damaged, was able to land successfully.

Full article: French Mirage jet collides with Lithuanian plane - Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/lithuania/8730874/French-Mirage-jet-collides-with-Lithuanian-plane.html)

[middleground]

better late than never.......Thread already started :)

[Airborne Aircrew]

Lithuania's defence ministry said the Lithuanian military L-39ZA "Albatross" jet and French "Mirage 2000" fighter collided in mid-air during Nato exercises at the Siauliai base.

Obviously the Lithuanians thought they had right of way on the roundabout...:E

[GreenKnight121]

Specifically, a L-39. Both Lithuanian pilots ejected safely, the French Mirage landed safely.

I'm betting it was a Mirage 2000, since the AdlA has 236 of them but only 66 Mirage F1s.


{edit: I see from the other thread that the Telegraph says I'm correct.}

{edit #2: And now that the threads have been merged, this post looks really strange.}

[M609]

I´m not that surprised about the L-39 guys at Siauliai being involved in something like this. Flight safety was not that high on the agenda with them when I was over there with the first RNoAF QRA detatchment in 05. (ATC "helper" in the tower, the local atc staff was, well, useless......)

Highlights:

Aileron roll at 200ft AGL along the runway to impress visiting NATO general during a "display". Cock up and bottom out at, oh less than five feet!

Trying to get our 4 F-16s to do a 300ft low pass up the Vilnius main street in formation with their 2 L-39s. (One year anniversay for NATO membership) They got a fat no on that. The F-16s stayed at 1000ft. L-39s did not. :uhoh:

Same day, L-39s leading the the formation "home". They decided to fly between the pylon and one guide wire on one of the "monster" radio towers between Vilnius and Kaunas. Norwegian element lead noticed early enough, and decided enough was enough, broke the element off and went home.

The RNoAF detachment did quite a few joint flights with the locals, typically 2 F-16s and one L-39 doing practice intercepts. The Norwegian pilots flat refused to fly in the back seat of the L-39s. Says something. :E