A L39 military aircraft crashed today morning in a paddy field in Phu Yen Province’s Dong Hoa District, the Ministry of Defence told the media.

At the scene

The pilot on board the aircraft was confirmed dead. He was Pham Duc Trung, 24, from the northern Ninh Binh Province and was a trainee pilot of Nha Trang City-based Air Force Officer Academy, under the Air Defence - Air Force Service.

The Ministry of Defence said the small military aircraft was on a training session and crashed at 8.45 am due to engine problems right after take-off.

Following the crash, some parts of the aircraft, coded 8705, were seen to have broken off, but the fuselage remained intact.

A local resident said that the aircraft plunged into the median strip on National Highway 1A before crashing into the field. A man travelling on the highway was also injured. Dr Pham Hieu Vinh, director of Phu Yen General Hospital later told the media that his injury was only slight.

Colonel Nguyen Duc Quy, vice principal of the Air Force Officer Academy told the Voice of Vietnam that the aircraft belonged to the school. 

“A school leader has left for Phu Yen to deal with the accident,” he said.

The L-39 aircraft is a high-performance jet trainer aircraft developed in Czechoslovakia by Aero Vodochody in the 1960s. In 2007, an L-39 aircraft crashed during a training session in Ninh Thuan Province, killing its two pilots.

Earlier this year, a Su30 MK2 fighter jet under Division 371 of the Air Defence – Air Force Service crashed into the sea, while flying off Nghệ An-Thanh Hóa provinces on June 14. Senior Lieutenant Colonel Tran Quang Khai died while Major Nguyen Huu Cuong was later saved by fishermen.

During the search and rescue mission for the Su30 MK2 plane, rescue aircraft CASA 212, coded 8983, of Brigade 918 of the Air Defence – Air Force Service also had an accident while flying off Bach Long Vi Island. Eight crew members were confirmed dead while the body of another soldier, also believed to have died, is yet to be found. 

Pilot Pham Duc Trung (right)

VNS/VNN