Turkey is investigating the causes of the crash of an F-16 fighter jet, in which the pilot died, shortly after takeoff during a mission to the border area with Bulgaria, the Turkish Ministry of Defense announced.
According to the department, two F-16 fighter jets took off simultaneously early Wednesday morning from the 9th Main Jet Air Base in Balıkesir, in the northwestern part of the country. The flight was part of a mission to respond to an alert after an unidentified radar trace was detected near the Bulgarian border.
Shortly after takeoff, radio and radar contact with one of the aircraft was lost, after which search and rescue teams were immediately sent. They later reached the wreckage of the machine. The ministry specified that the pilot activated the ejection system at the last moment before the crash, but died.
"The cause of the incident will be clarified after a detailed investigation by the aviation accident commission," the official statement said. Turkey has about 250 F-16 fighter jets and has a pending order from the United States to purchase 40 new F-16 Block 70 aircraft as part of the fleet modernization program.