Turkey's 'flying coffins'
Turkey's loss of six pilots in the crash of three F-4Es has led to a public outcry as the nation awaits answers and the air force works on replacing the fleet.
On Feb. 24, two Turkish RF-4E Phantom planes on reconnaissance crashed into a mountain near Malatya, in southeast Turkey, killing four pilots. Eight days later, two more pilots died when an F-4E-2020 Phantom, upgraded by Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI), crashed during a Turkish-Azerbaijani joint air exercise.
Three crashed Turkish Air Force (TAF) planes and six dead pilots in close to one week has produced a national outcry, putting these events at the top of the public agenda. The anger was palpable in the media. “Someone has to explain these accidents,” demanded the daily Haberturk's headline for a story taking a comprehensive look at F-4Es in Turkey.
The country now awaits answers to its questions: Why did the planes crash? Were there technical problems? Was there pilot error? Were there sinister forces at play? Why didn’t the pilots eject? When will the F-4Es — in active service in the TAF for 40 years and dubbed “flying coffins” by the public — be retired?
F-4Es in the TAF
