Two Patrouille Suisse F-5 aircraft collided in mid-air during a practice flight at Baar ZG, Switzerland on today morning. The team prepared for this weekend Federal Yodelling Festival airshow in Zug. The team display of the airshow was cancelled.
The incident happened when the Patrouille Suisse Diamond flew in echelon formation. #2 aircraft made a sudden down move and hit the nose of #3 aircraft in formation. In result, the breaking chute of #2 aircraft and the nose fairing of #3 aircraft fell to the ground.
On impact of the nose fairing on the ground close to a building, windows shattered and one person was slightly injured by the glass shards.
All six Patrouille Suisse F-5 Tiger aircraft that was in the air were able to land in Emmen Air Base. The pilots remain unharmed.
This is the third incident within the team’s history and second caused by mid-air collision between two aircraft. The first ever crash in Patrouille Suisse history was on Jun 16, 2016 at Leeuwarden, Netherlands during a practice flight (again, and again in Thursday) for upcoming airshow. There were no causalities except one crashed F-5 aircraft. Then the investigation blames the pilot’s error for the crash.
The last crash of Patrouille Suisse aircraft was on May 27, 2021 when the team’s F-5 crashed during combat training mission.
