Military training aircraft crashes

A military training aircraft crashed into a forest in eastern Bohemia on Monday evening; the two pilots ejected safely and no one was injured. Speaking to reporters at the scene, Army Chief of Staff Vlastimil Picek said that an engine malfunction in the Czech-made L-39 Albatros had caused a fire that then spread to the cockpit, affecting the controls. The two pilots – one a trainee and the other an instructor – then guided the plane to an uninhabited area and parachuted to safety. Six fire-fighting units were working Monday evening to extinguish two forest fires caused by the crash and complicated by the hot and dry weather. Albatros training aircraft have now been grounded pending an investigation by the Ministry of Defence. Another L-39 Albatros crashed in the summer of 2001 killing the pilot.