Awarding the Third Class Fatherland Protection Medal to two pilots of Regiment 940

On the afternoon of November 23, at the Air Force Officer School, authorized by the President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Lieutenant General Tran Ngoc Quyen, Party Secretary - Political Commissar of the Air Defense - Air Force Service (PK-KQ) awarded the Third Class Fatherland Protection Medal to Colonel Nguyen Van Son, Commander of Regiment 940, Air Force Officer School (PK-KQ) and Colonel Nguyen Hong Quan, Flight Director, Regiment 940, Air Force Officer School (PK-KQ) for their outstanding achievements in performing combat flight training tasks, contributing to the cause of building socialism and defending the Fatherland.

Previously, on November 6, 2024, Regiment 940, Air Force Officer School (Air Defense - Air Force Service) organized a training flight on a complex meteorological day at Phu Cat airport, Binh Dinh province.

The flight crew was led by Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Tat Thang, Deputy Commander of the Training Regiment, Regiment 940, as the main flight commander. Major Pham Van Nam, Squadron Commander of Squadron 1, Regiment 940, was in command of takeoffs and landings. Colonel Nguyen Van Son, Regiment Commander, sat in the front cockpit; Colonel Nguyen Hong Quan, Flight Director, sat in the back cockpit on the Yak-130 aircraft with registration number 2101.

The pilot started the engine at 9:42, took off at 9:54 (this was the fourth flight in the flight group), the pilot performed Flight 208 (long-distance flight, simple maneuvers in (in the clouds) and landed from a linear position).

When aligning the runway to drop the landing gear to penetrate, the pilot discovered that the landing gear was not released at 10:01. The pilot made an emergency landing gear release but it still did not come out; the flight commander ordered the pilot to gain altitude to perform an overload maneuver but the landing gear still did not come out.

The flight commander ordered the pilot to fly through the control tower to check the landing gear, but found that the landing gear was still missing. The flight commander ordered the pilot to try to get the plane out of the populated area and parachute.

The pilot remained calm and courageous, trying to find ways to handle the unexpected situation. When he could not overcome it, he decided to take the plane away from the residential area to the foot of the mountain in the area of ​​the National Military Training Center 2 to parachute at 10:51:05, the parachute location was in Binh Loc village, Binh Hoa commune, Tay Son district, Binh Dinh province. The pilot parachuted safely, in stable health, and there were no casualties at the crash site.

Speaking at the ceremony to receive and award the Fatherland Protection Medal to the two pilots, Lieutenant General Tran Ngoc Quyen, Political Commissar of the Air Defense - Air Force Service, praised the leaders and commanders of the Air Force Officer School, Regiment 940 and the officers, soldiers and staff in the flight team for doing a good job of preparing, organizing tight flight command, promptly and flexibly handling situations that occurred; and emphasized: The two pilots receiving the Fatherland Protection Medal today is a great honor, marking the maturity and outstanding dedication of the comrades in training work for the revolutionary cause of the Party and the maturity and growth of the Vietnam People's Army.

With their extensive training experience and high determination, the pilots were calm, confident, not afraid of sacrifice, correctly identified the right opportunity, and promptly handled unexpected situations in the air. That action demonstrated the training level, combat readiness, and courageous actions for the cause of protecting the Fatherland's sky, for the peace and happiness of the people of Colonel Nguyen Van Son and Colonel Nguyen Hong Quan, further enhancing the noble qualities of Uncle Ho's soldiers, the image of an elite Air Defense - Air Force soldier; they are worthy of being honored, learned from, and followed by generations of officers and soldiers of the Vietnam People's Army in general, and the Air Defense - Air Force Service in particular.

In recognition of his outstanding achievements, the Minister of National Defense previously signed a decision to promote Colonel Nguyen Hong Quan ahead of schedule and raise the salary of Colonel Nguyen Van Son.