On November 7, General Phan Van Giang - Politburo member, Deputy Secretary of the Central Military Commission, Minister of National Defense - sent a letter to officers, employees, and soldiers in the November 6, 2024 Flight Committee of Air Force Regiment 940, Air Force Officer School, Air Defense - Air Force Service.
The letter from General Phan Van Giang stated: On November 6, 2024, Air Force Regiment 940 organized a daily training flight at Phu Cat airport, Binh Dinh province.
The flight crew, including the take-off and landing commanders, pilots, logistics and technical support members and search and rescue forces, did a good job of preparing and carrying out the flight mission according to plan. Colonel Nguyen Van Son - Regiment Commander and Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Hong Quan - Flight Director of the Regiment directly practiced the flight crew controlling the Yak-130 aircraft with registration number 210D.
When completing the mission, the plane was piloted back to the airport to land, but the plane encountered a technical problem and the landing gear could not be released. The pilots urgently took emergency measures to save the plane, but were unable to do so. The flight commander ordered the pilot to parachute.
In a very short moment, the plane was at low altitude, falling very quickly, endangering lives, but the pilots calmly and bravely controlled the plane away from densely populated areas and parachuted safely, causing no damage.
"On behalf of the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defense, I commend and commend the leaders and commanders of functional agencies at all levels in the Air Defense - Air Force for directing and organizing closely the training and combat readiness tasks of the forces; commend the Air Force Officer School, Regiment 940 and the officers, staff and soldiers in the Flight Department for doing a good job of preparing, organizing and commanding flights closely, promptly and flexibly handling situations that arise; commend Colonel Nguyen Van Son and Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Hong Quan for their qualifications, extensive training experience and high determination and will to remain calm, confident, not afraid of sacrifice, correctly identifying opportunities, promptly handling unforeseen situations in the air. That work demonstrates the training level, combat readiness of the Air Defense - Air Force and the responsibility for the people and the Fatherland of revolutionary soldiers in the new era" - General Phan Van Giang's letter clearly stated.
General Phan Van Giang also requested that the Standing Party Committee and the Air Defense - Air Force Command urgently direct the organization to draw lessons and propose commendations and rewards for collectives and individuals in handling the incident of the Flight Division of Regiment 940.
"I hope that you will continue to promote the noble qualities of "Uncle Ho's soldiers", proactively and creatively overcome difficulties, strive to excellently complete all assigned tasks, and make worthy contributions to the cause of building the Army, strengthening national defense, and firmly protecting the socialist Vietnamese Fatherland" - the letter of the Minister of National Defense stated.
