The pilot of a Hungarian Air Force Gripen fighter carried out an emergency landing and then ejected at the Kecskemét airbase, 85 kilometres southeast of Budapest, on Wednesday. Before its emergency landing, the JAS39 C fighter reported a technical problem, said a statement from the defence ministry. The pilot was taken to hospital but he is in a stable condition.
Lt. Gen. Zoltán Orosz said experienced pilot Maj. Sándor Kádár was on a training run Wednesday in a Gripen JAS-39C jet when he indicated that the aircraft’s forward landing gear had malfunctioned. Kádár then attempted a belly landing at the military air base in the central city of Kecskemet and ejected when he lost control of the aircraft on the ground. Orosz said the jet is likely repairable. The rest of Hungary’s fleet of Saab Gripen jets will also be inspected.
Orosz said there was no link with a previous incident when another Hungarian Gripen overran the runway at an airbase in the Czech Republic. On May 19, a Hungarian JAS-39 Gripen, participating in Czech-Hungarian-Swedish military exercise Lion Effort 2015, crashed off the runway at Caslav military air base 60 kilometres east of Prague. The pilots successfully ejected and were unharmed.
via hungarymatters.hu, MTI and AP photo: Sándor Ujvari – MTI