Frecce Tricolori Jet Crashes On Take Off
An MB-339A/PAN MLU of the Italian Air Force display team Frecce Tricolori crashed on take off from Torino airport on Saturday afternoon Sept. 16, 2023.
The team was taking off to perform a rehearsal ahead of the Vercelli Airshow tomorrow. The aircraft was taking off in the first of two 5-ship sections when it reportedly experienced a bird strike resulting in a loss of power and began losing altitude rapidly forcing the pilot to eject just a few moments before the aircraft fell to the ground and exploded in a ball of fire.
The pilot “Pony 4” Major Oscar Del Do survived the ejection and was taken to the local hospital where he was treated for burns, sadly the falling aircraft crashed at the bottom of the runway in the territory that falls within the municipality of San Francesco al Campo hitting a car that was travelling on a road. Sadly a 5-year-old girl travelling in that car was killed, her 9-year-old brother and both parents were injured.
Frecce Tricolori at the Jesolo Airshow 2022
Tomorrow the Frecce Tricolori were supposed to be the culmination of a performance at the Turin-Collegno aero club organized for the centenary of the Air Force. The event has been cancelled.
All the air displays scheduled at the Turin Aero Club for the centenary of the Italian Air Force have been cancelled as a sign of respect. The Frecce Tricolori show was supposed to close the Airshow tomorrow afternoon. The aerobatic team was to perform a 24-minute show.
The Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Luca Goretti said
"on behalf of the entire Air Force, dismayed and astonished by what happened this afternoon at Turin Caselle airport, joins the family of the little girl who was the victim of the plane crash involving a Frecce Tricolori aircraft".
“We await with hope and confidence updates on the conditions of the second child and the parents” reports a note from the Air Force explaining that the Pan formation “had just taken off to head towards Vercelli, where it was supposed to perform an air show when for reasons still to be ascertained, the Pony 4 aircraft piloted by Major Oscar Del Do' lost altitude and crashed to the ground".
The pilot, immediately before impact, “managed to perform the ejection manoeuvre. It is not possible to confirm the causes of the accident at the moment. One of the hypotheses being examined, given the dynamics of the event, is that of an impact of the aircraft with a bird (Bird strike) during the very first phases of take-off".
“The fire that developed following the impact of the aircraft on the ground, unfortunately, involved a car in transit on the perimeter of the airport with four people on board, causing the death of a little girl and the injury of the other three occupants of the vehicle".
MB-339A/PAN MLU of the Frecce Tricolori
