Pakistani major identified in military aircraft crash

IZMIR - Doğan News Agency

DHA Photo

Turkish General Staff have identified the Pakistani pilot missing in the recent military training aircraft as Pilot Major Masood Hussain. The cause of the crash remains unknown. 

The General Staff released a statement saying the Pakistani Major had been employed in Turkey in accordance with the military cooperation agreement between Turkey and Pakistan. 

Turkish officer Serkan Sağır, 23, whose was identity was confirmed by the Air Force almost immediately, was flying with Major Hussain when the airplane crashed.  The statement said the search for the pilots was ongoing, as were investigations into the cause of crash.

The Air Force plane crashed into the Aegean Sea off the coast of the western province of İzmir’s Foça district on Jan. 16.  The plane was a T-37 training aircraft; a model which has been used by the country’s military since 1963. 

The aircraft are set to be decommissioned by the end of this year to be replaced with the KT-1, a Korean design manufactured by the Turkish Aerospace Industries in Ankara.