imalko
Chief Master Sergeant
Aircraft J-22 Orao (Eagle) of Serbian Air Force, flown by Major Slobodan Jocić (41), Commanding officer of 1st Flight 241st Fighter-Bomber Squadron 98th Aviation base, crashed on Thursday (June 3) into the Gružansko lake near Kragujevac.
The cause of the crash was malfunction of left leg of main landing gear which remained locked in closed position. Since the pilot was unable to land the aircraft safely due to this malfunction he was ordered to direct the aircraft into the lake and to eject. As it was said by the Army officials on the press conference, the pilot took all regulatory procedures in order to lower the landing gear but was unsuccessful.
"Major Jocić, being the one of most experienced pilots on this type of aircraft, did all that was in his power to try to save the plane and avoid ejection. He even made two low level passes touching the runway with right landing gear in an effort to unlock the left landing gear unit. Low on fuel and short on options, the pilot was ordered to direct the plane into unpopulated area and to eject..." - Brigadier General Ranko Živak explained at the press conference.
The pilot landed to the lake, but suffered minor injury on his spine and was taken to the hospital for observation. He's injuries are not life threatening.
J-22 Orao is subsonic strike aircraft developed and manufactured as a joint venture of Yugoslavia and Romania. According to the report to the OSCE for 2009, Serbian Air Force operates 32 J-22s. Aircraft which crashed, J-22 registration number 25156, was manufactured in 1987. Aircraft was overhauled in early March 2010 since when it flew 24 flight hours. Army officials announced that aircraft will be recovered from the lake. Until the exact cause of the landing gear malfunction is determined all J-22s will remain grounded.
All pictures in the attachment show the aircraft in question "25156" at it's last public appearance - Open day at Niš Airport couple of days ago. As you can see it's a high wing aircraft with relatively narrow fuselage which makes belly landings very risky as the aircraft is prone to overturn. This is the main reason why pilot was ordered to eject in stead of attempting the belly landing. One picture shows close up of Orao main landing gear unit and another shows pilot being rushed to the hospital after the incident. As a side note, at the time of the incident formation of four J-22s was carrying out intensive flight training.
The cause of the crash was malfunction of left leg of main landing gear which remained locked in closed position. Since the pilot was unable to land the aircraft safely due to this malfunction he was ordered to direct the aircraft into the lake and to eject. As it was said by the Army officials on the press conference, the pilot took all regulatory procedures in order to lower the landing gear but was unsuccessful.
"Major Jocić, being the one of most experienced pilots on this type of aircraft, did all that was in his power to try to save the plane and avoid ejection. He even made two low level passes touching the runway with right landing gear in an effort to unlock the left landing gear unit. Low on fuel and short on options, the pilot was ordered to direct the plane into unpopulated area and to eject..." - Brigadier General Ranko Živak explained at the press conference.
The pilot landed to the lake, but suffered minor injury on his spine and was taken to the hospital for observation. He's injuries are not life threatening.
J-22 Orao is subsonic strike aircraft developed and manufactured as a joint venture of Yugoslavia and Romania. According to the report to the OSCE for 2009, Serbian Air Force operates 32 J-22s. Aircraft which crashed, J-22 registration number 25156, was manufactured in 1987. Aircraft was overhauled in early March 2010 since when it flew 24 flight hours. Army officials announced that aircraft will be recovered from the lake. Until the exact cause of the landing gear malfunction is determined all J-22s will remain grounded.
All pictures in the attachment show the aircraft in question "25156" at it's last public appearance - Open day at Niš Airport couple of days ago. As you can see it's a high wing aircraft with relatively narrow fuselage which makes belly landings very risky as the aircraft is prone to overturn. This is the main reason why pilot was ordered to eject in stead of attempting the belly landing. One picture shows close up of Orao main landing gear unit and another shows pilot being rushed to the hospital after the incident. As a side note, at the time of the incident formation of four J-22s was carrying out intensive flight training.
Attachments
Last edited:
Glad to hear he's gonna be okay!
