The DEW Line

From the daily wires:

A test flight of a GR.4 Tornado went tragically awry yesterday when the back-seat navigator was somehow dislodged from his seat and fell through the canopy with the aircraft in an inverted roll. Read the full bizarre story here.

Meanwhile, I have received a report from Flight International's internal data team that an Azerbaijani-owned Ilyushin Il-76 was fired on while landing yesterday at the Mogadishu airport. I am still hunting for a news report of this inident. If confirmed, this incident follows two previous attacks in March on Il-76 transports arriving in Mogadishu.

Iranian Fighter Jet Crashes, 2 Killed

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An Iranian air force F-4 Phantom jet crashed into the Oman Sea on Monday off the southeastern coast of Iran, killing both pilots, the official IRNA news agency reported.

The jet, belonging to the army air force, crashed into the sea near the port of Konarak during a training flight, and "both pilots ... were martyred," IRNA said.

According to reports (here and here), the passengers of the doomed aircraft included senior Polish Air Force commanders. The senior delegation was returning to Poland after attending a conference on aviation safety.

More bad news for the F-15 fighter community, but I'm glad at least the pilot is okay. Cirumstances surrounding the accident remain unclear, but there's no indication from news reports so far that the aircraft broke up before the pilot ejected. Cheers to Eric Palmer for the head's up.

Click here for background on the F-15 crash on 2 November that prompted the US Air Force to ground its fleet.