Yak-130 aircraft crashed in Dak Lak found

At around 2:30 p.m. this afternoon, November 8, authorities discovered a plane crash in the Yok Don National Park forest, Dak Lak province, about 250 km from Phu Cat airport (Binh Dinh).

The area where the plane crashed was covered by many large trees. The branches and leaves around the plane were still green, so it is possible that the plane had not caught fire or only had a small fire.

A Yak-130 aircraft of Regiment 940 on a training flight from Phu Cat airport had an accident and could not land, forcing the pilot to parachute on the afternoon of November 6. The two pilots were later rescued in a forest in Tay Son commune, Binh Dinh.

Over the past two days, authorities have mobilized more than 550 people, 33 cars, and an Mi-17 aircraft to search for the plane in Binh Dinh, Gia Lai, and Dak Lak.

Yok Don National Park covers an area of ​​115,500 hectares (located in Dak Lak and Dak Nong), about 40 km north of Buon Ma Thuot City. This is the only dipterocarp forest in Vietnam with a rich and diverse ecosystem of animals and plants.

At 9:55 a.m. on November 6, two pilots, Colonel Nguyen Van Son, sitting in the front cabin, and Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Hong Quan, sitting in the back cabin, flew a Yak-130 for a practice flight from Phu Cat airport. At 10:38 a.m., after finishing the landing practice session, the pilot discovered that the plane was having trouble and tried to handle the emergency situation but was unsuccessful. He reported to the flight commander and was allowed to parachute at Truong Sam TB2 area, Tay Son district, and landed in the Ham Ho mountainous area. Authorities later found the two pilots in the evening, 10 hours after the incident.

According to information from the Ministry of Defense, the pilot circled three times to try to fix the problem, but ran out of fuel and had to let the plane fall into the forest to ensure safety. The two pilots were ordered to parachute when the plane was 600 meters above the ground.