On 26 January 2015, an

F-16D Fighting Falcon The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successf ...

jet fighter of the

Hellenic Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = 8 November , equipment = , equipment_label ...

crashed into the flight line at Los Llanos Air Base in

Albacete Albacete (, also , ; ar, ﭐَلبَسِيط, Al-Basīṭ) is a city and municipality in the Spanish autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha, and capital of the province of Albacete. Lying in the south-east of the Iberian Peninsula, the ...

, Spain, killing 11 people: the two crew members and nine on the ground. Twenty-one others, all on the ground, were injured.

Background

Los Llanos Air Base is the venue of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

's Tactical Leadership Program (TLP), a regular series of training exercises for personnel from ten NATO member air forces. In January 2015, during TLP2015-1, several NATO air forces deployed aircraft to the base, including four F-16 Block 50 fighter aircraft of the

Hellenic Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = 8 November , equipment = , equipment_label ...

's 341st Squadron, supported by 41 pilots and technicians from the 111th Combat Wing, based at

Nea Anchialos Air Base Nea Anchialos National Airport ( gr, Κρατικός Αερολιμένας Νέας Αγχιάλου) is an airport located near the town of Nea Anchialos in Greece. It serves the department of Magnesia and is also known as ''Central Greece A ...

Accident

On 26 January 2015, one of the Greek F-16s crashed into other aircraft at the base just after takeoff, causing an explosion which killed 9 people. A total of five aircraft on the ground were damaged or destroyed, including two

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

AMXs, two French

Alpha Jet The Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet is a light attack jet and advanced jet trainer co-manufactured by Dassault Aviation of France and Dornier Flugzeugwerke of Germany. It was developed specifically to perform trainer and light attack missions, as ...

s, and one French Mirage 2000. Those killed included the two Greek crew members of the F-16 and eight French personnel on the ground. 21 individuals were injured, six of them severely. The following day, a French airman who was severely burned in the accident died, bringing the death toll to eleven. In addition to the loss of personnel, the crash resulted in the write-off of two Dassault Mirage 2000D fighters and two

trainers of the French Air Force. Two of its

Dassault Rafale The Dassault Rafale (, literally meaning "gust of wind", and "burst of fire" in a more military sense) is a French twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter aircraft designed and built by Dassault Aviation. Equipped with a wide range ...

s were also severely damaged.

Investigation

Initial findings were that a technical fault developed on board the F-16 during take-off, and the two crew members had tried to eject.

References

{{Portal bar, Aviation, Spain, Greece, France Los Llanos Accidents and incidents involving French Air and Space Force aircraft Accidents and incidents involving military aircraft Aviation accidents and incidents in Spain 2015 in Castilla–La Mancha Hellenic Air Force January 2015 events in Spain History of the province of Albacete