France News: A pilot lost his life after his jet, which he was flying during an airshow in France, crashed into the Mediterranean Sea on Friday. The small aerobatic plane crashed into the sea with the pilot trapped inside.
The body of the 65-year-old pilot was recovered after a rescue operation, AFP reported. A video capturing the crash surfaced on social media. In the viral video, the Fouga Magister jet can be seen going off balance and losing altitude, before plunging into the sea.
The Fouga Magister aircraft was performing at Le Lavandou just before a demonstration by the French Air Force's elite acrobatic flying team, a French Air Force spokesman told AFP.
The Fouga Magister was built after World War II. For many years, it was used by the French army as a trainer jet and aerobatic plane. The plane has no ejection seat. The show was cancelled due to "tragic circumstances," military officials said. The airshow was held to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the allied forces' D-Day landings in Provence.
In a separate incident that took place on Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron said that two pilots had died in an accident during a Rafale fighters' training mission on Wednesday. "It is with great sadness that we learn of the deaths... in an air accident during a Rafale training mission," said Macron on X, as reported by Xinhua news agency.
Two Rafale fighter jets collided in midair before crashing to the ground in northeastern France on Wednesday at around 12:30 local time on return from a refuelling mission in Germany, said the French Air Force on X. Two pilots were in one plane and one in the other.