Two Nigerian Air Force (NAF) pilots on a routine training flight died Thursday evening, when their trainer aircraft crashed on the outskirts of the country’s northern city of Kaduna, a military spokesman said Friday.
The plane is an Air Beetle ABT-18 trainer aircraft, operated by the 301 Flying Training School in Kaduna, a unit under the Training Command of the NAF.
The two dead NAF personnel include an instructor and a student pilot.
Director of Public Relations and Information of NAF, Group Captain Sadeeq Shehu, said the pilots died “instantly” following the crash.
He said the families of the deceased officers had been notified.
The 301 Flying Training School (301 FTS) is the hub of pilot training in the NAF.
Since its inception, the school has trained over 600 pilots for the NAF, as well as the first set of pilots for the Nigerian Navy.
The school has also assisted in the training of pilots from African countries, including 5 from the Republic of Benin, 4 from Cape Verde, 3 from Niger Republic, 10 from Zimbabwe and 1 from Sierra Leone.