Sneaking through the jungle, looking for a place to send a distress signal
On the morning of November 7, Lieutenant General Pham Truong Son - Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army and Chairman of the People's Committee of Binh Dinh Province Pham Anh Tuan visited Military Hospital 13 (Quy Nhon City) to visit the health of the two pilots involved in the Yak-130 training aircraft accident and crash in Tay Son District.
Currently, the spirit and health of Colonel Nguyen Van Son - Regiment Commander, front cabin flight (Air Force Regiment 940) and Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Hong Quan - Flight Chief, rear cabin flight (Air Force Regiment 940) are both stable.
Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Hong Quan said that when he parachuted to escape the plane that was having problems, this soldier was stuck in a tree, more than 10 meters above the ground. It took about 10 minutes for Lieutenant Colonel Quan to escape from the parachute and land safely.
"After landing on the ground, I calmed down and determined my position, looking for a place with a phone signal to contact. After sending my location to the search and rescue team, I looked for shelter at the place where the signal was emitted to avoid the rain and wind," said Lieutenant Colonel Quan.
Recalling the moment the plane crashed, Colonel Nguyen Van Son said he fired signal bullets to let the commander know the location of the crash.
"After parachuting, I followed the stream downstream. However, there was no signal there, so I went upstream. When I reached the top of the mountain, my phone had signal, so I connected and called the unit," said Colonel Son.
The last signal of the plane in Dak Lak
Also on the morning of November 7, Lieutenant General Pham Truong Son, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army, said that all radar stations detected the area where the YAK-130 aircraft (serial number 210D) last lost signal. However, finding the aircraft's location is very difficult because the forest is very large.
"Since noon yesterday, forces have been deployed to search for the plane after determining the crash site. The main force is focusing on searching for the two pilots, this is the biggest goal," said Lieutenant General Pham Truong Son.
On November 7, forces organized a search for the plane crash site and deciphered the black box to find the cause of the accident.
"Decoding the black box to find out why the plane's right landing gear did not deploy, even though the front and left landing gears did," Lieutenant General Pham Truong Son said, adding that this was an extremely complicated and unpredictable case.
According to Lieutenant General Pham Truong Son, in the instructions, if the landing gear does not deploy, the plane can still land on its belly. But if either the left or right landing gear does not deploy, the pilot must definitely parachute.
After receiving the order, the two pilots flew the plane to a mountainous area 20km from Phu Cat airport to parachute, but the crash site was nearly 30km away.
On the afternoon of November 7, speaking with Lao Dong, Colonel Nguyen Xuan Son - Political Commissar of the Binh Dinh Provincial Military Command said that the exact location of the Yak-130 plane crash has not yet been determined. The area where the plane lost its last signal has only been determined to be in Ea Sup district (Dak Lak province). Currently, forces are mobilizing to the location where the plane lost its last signal to continue the search.
Confirming with Lao Dong, Colonel Tran Thanh Hai - Deputy Chief of Staff of Military Region 5 said that the last location where the plane lost signal was in Ea Sup district (Dak Lak province), not in Gia Lai.
As reported, at around 11am on November 6, a Yak-130 training aircraft had an accident, so the two pilots in the flight crew, Colonel Nguyen Van Son and Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Hong Quan, parachuted out of the aircraft. The location where the two pilots parachuted to safety was in Tay Xuan commune (Tay Son district).
The Yak-130 training aircraft (serial number 210D) that had the accident belonged to Air Force Regiment 940, Air Force Officer School located in Binh Dinh province.
After nearly 13 hours of search and rescue, the two pilots in the flight crew, Colonel Nguyen Van Son and Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Hong Quan, were brought out of the forest safely at night.
