Breaking: crash Romanian Air Force MiG-21 and IAR330!

On 2 March 2022 at 19:50 hrs LT, two Forțele Aeriene ale Romaniei (FAR, Romanian Air Force) MiG-21 LanceRs took of from Baza 57 Aeriana / Constanta Mihail Kogalniceanu for a air policing mission when the radio contact with one of the fighters was lost and the aircraft disappeared from the radar at 20:03 hrs just north of the air base in the neighborhood of Ogealac and Gura Dobrogei.

An IAR330 Puma was scrambled ar 20:21 hrs for a search and rescue (SAR) mission for the missing aircraft and pilot. The helicopter crew reported bad weather and received orders to return to base. At 20:44 hrs the helicopter also lost radio contact and disappeared from the radar. The last known position was near Gura Dobrogei, only eleven kilometres from the air base.

Unfortunately there are no survivors in both crashes and a total of eight persons lost their lives, the pilot of the MiG-21 and seven persons on board the IAR330.

The serial of the MiG-21MF LanceR C is reported to be 5913 and the serial of the IAR330 is 57.

Photos (just illustrative) by Sjaak Louwen and Jonathan Verschuuren (Scramble Archive)