Czech Rep suspends Gripen training over accident

Posted on: Apr. 24th, 2007 || Source: launch.praguemonitor.com | E-mail Article | Print Article

Czech Rep suspends Gripen training over accident

Prague, April 23 (CTK) - Czech air force chief commander Ladislav Minarik has suspended training on 14 Jas-39 Gripens that the Czech Republic has leased from Sweden, over the accident of the same type in Sweden last week, daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) writes today.

"Pilots will train on a flight simulator," he told MfD.

He said that if a foreign plane violated Czech airspace or a plane were in emergency, two stand-by fighters would take off.

Chief of general staff Vlastimil Picek said that the Czech Gripens will be grounded until the producer Saab provides an explanation of the accident, MfD writes.

A Jas-39 Gripen crashed in northern Sweden on Thursday. The pilot was catapulted. No one was injured.

Sweden immediately afterwards grounded Gripens of the F 21 regional wing only, but on Friday evening it extended the ban on flights to the latest modifications C and D all over the country.
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