JEDDAH, 2 November 2006 — A Royal Saudi Air Force F-15 crashed yesterday morning in the Eastern Province. The pilot ejected before impact. The Ministry of Defense and Aviation announced yesterday that at 9.30 in the morning an F-15 defense jet of the Saudi Royal Air Force had crashed during a training mission in a training zone 80 kilometers west of King Abdul Aziz Air Base in the Eastern Province.

The aircraft was completely destroyed but no casualties were reported since the pilot ejected and the crash occurred in an uninhabited area, the ministry’s statement said. A committee has been named to investigate the reasons for the crash of the plane which is estimated to have cost some $48 million.

Last Sunday a civil defense helicopter crashed during a rescue operation 140 km south of Al-Aflaj. Saudi authorities have launched an investigation into the crash. The team was on a mission to rescue an elderly man who had become stranded in the desert when his vehicle broke down. The helicopter was worth more than SR70 million.

The source said preliminary reports attributed the crash to bad weather and the failure of the pilot to evaluate the risk factors correctly, especially as the operation was carried out at night.

In 2004, there were two accidents as F-15s crashed in the same area. The first incident occurred on Jan. 21. Two crewmembers of an F-15 fighter plane died during a training flight at the King Abdul Aziz Air Base. The dead were identified as Sultan ibn Turki Al-Farem and Nasser ibn Abdul Rahman Al-Rasheed.

One source told Arab News that the plane crashed on a restaurant inside the base. As a result, an Egyptian worker at the restaurant was killed and two others — an Indian and a Filipino — were injured.

On Sept. 16, 2004 a Saudi Royal Air Force pilot died when his F-15 aircraft crashed during a training exercise. The crash occurred at the King Abdul Aziz Air Base during Gulf Spears, a joint exercise with air forces from other member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council. The pilot was named as First Officer Mohammed Ahmad Al-Kubaiby.