70 Italian air force jets grounded during safety inquiry
Authorities have grounded 70 Italian air force AMX fighter jets indefinitely for a safety investigation, the air force has said.
By Agencies |
ROME: Authorities have grounded 70 Italian air force AMX fighter jets indefinitely for a safety investigation, the air force has said.
The fighter jets are all based in Italy, air force spokesman Col Amedeo Magnani said yesterday.
He was confirming a report in Rome daily II Messaggero that Sardinian magistrates ordered the aircraft grounded because of numerous accidents since the jet was delivered in late 1989.
The AMX has had 12 accidents, causing a total of five deaths, since going into service, Magnani said. In one of the nonfatal accidents, the transparent canopy over the cockpit was detached from the rest of the plane, he said.
The grounding order grew out of an investigation by Sardinian prosecutors into the 2005 crash of an AMX in a field of artichokes on the island, the Italian news agency ANSA said. The pilot was not injured in that accident.
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"There are elements to contend that the AMX fighter jets are dangerous, therefore not suitable for flight," ANSA quoted Cagliari Chief Prosecutor Mauro Mura as saying. Magnani said while none of the grounded jets was currently involved in any overseas mission, air force officials were still "really worried" because "this means our pilots aren't training."
The AMX, manufactured jointly by Alenia, Aermacchi and Embraer, can carry a weapons payload of 3,800 kilograms (more than 4 tons). It was used in NATO missions in Kosovo in 1999.
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