TWO FRENCH AIR Force pilots have died after their planes collided mid-air during a training mission, officials have said.

French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to Captain Sébastien Mabire and Lieutenant Matthis Laurens, the pilots who died, and said the nation “shares the grief” of their families and fellow pilots.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the authority said: “The Air and Space Force and its Airmen express their most sincere condolences to the family and loved ones of Captain Sébastien Mabire and Lieutenant Matthis Laurens, who died in active air service.”

One pilot ejected following the crash, which happened over northeastern France, but authorities had launched a desperate search for a missing instructor and a student pilot on the second jet.

The incident took place yesterday afternoon during a training operation involving Rafale jets. An investigation into the incident has also begun.

The Air and Space Force said Captain Mabire had been a fighter pilot since 2013 and became an instructor for the force in August 2022. 

Lieutenant Laurens became a certified fighter pilot in 2021 and was continuing his Rafale training after being commissioned to his regiment last November.

Rafale jets are a supersonic multi-role fighter plane and are used to hunt enemies, strike sea and ground targets, collect reconnaissance and carry some of France’s nuclear weapons.

Patrice Bonneaux, deputy mayor of Colombey-les-Belles, told the AFP news agency that the usual supersonic boom was not heard in the sky during the incident. Instead, a “percussive” sound was audiable by people on the ground.

“I assumed that two planes had collided, but we didn’t believe it,” he said, adding that a road bordering a nearby forest had been cordoned off.

With reporting by © AFP 2024