Pilot of crashed aircraft to be transferred to Bucharest Military Hospital for treatment, recovery

Squadron leader Andrei Criste, who managed to eject himself on Tuesday from a crashing plane in Mures County, is in stable condition, and in the evening he will be flown by an Air Force aircraft to the Bucharest Central Military Hospital for specialist treatment and recovery. The Defence Ministry (MApN) reports in a press statement that the officer is currently hospitalised at the Targu Mures County Emergency Clinical Hospital, where he was examined by a medical team, which found that his life was not in danger and authorised the transfer to the Dr Carol Davila Hospital in Bucharest for specialist treatment and recovery. The transfer will be performed this evening by a C-130 Hercules aircraft of the Romanian Air Force. According to MApN, Criste has been a military pilot since 2008 and has 600 hours of experience flying supersonic aircraft, being certified as an operational pilot on MiG-21 LanceR aircraft. The aircraft that crashed had taken off at around 14:00hrs from the air base at Cimpia Turzii for a training flight jointly with two other aircraft of the same type. During the performance of the mission, the pilot reported an emergency and ejected himself as the aircraft came crashing down in the area of Dedrad, Mures County, outside the inhabited areas. The other two aircraft returned to base safely around 15:00hrs, according to MApN. MApN says the incident is being investigated by the Military Prosecutor's Office, while the circumstances of the accident will be investigated by a team appointed by the Chief of the Defence. In accordance with standard procedures, instructional flights on this type of aircraft were suspended until the completion of the specialist investigation. AGERPRES (RO - author: Catalin Alexandru, editor: Mihai Simionescu; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)