07.04.2017.
Djordjevic, Dikovic and Zivak at aircraft crash site
The Defence Minister Zoran Djordjevic, the Chief of General Staff General Ljubisa Dikovic and the Air Force and Air Defence Commander Major General Ranko Zivak have visited the crash site of the trainer-fighter “Super Galeb G-4” around the village of Slatina, near Sabac. The aircraft of the Serbian Armed Forces Air Force and Air Defence crashed today around 10.30 during a routine training flight. On this occasion the pilots Lieutenant Colonel Nenad Culibrk from the Air Force and Air Defence Command and Captain Dejan Pandurovic from the 252nd Training Squadron of the 204th Air Force Brigade lost their lives.
“On behalf of all members of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces, and on my personal behalf, I would like to express my deepest condolences to the families of the killed pilots. They were the top, experienced pilots and this loss is irrecoverable for us and the families. Please be sure that we will do our best as the Ministry to help the families of the killed ones”, Minister Djordjevic said, addressing the media.
He said that the Chief of General Staff had formed a commission for determining the circumstances of the accident, whereas the Defence Inspectorate had been tasked with conducting extraordinary inspection.
General Dikovic has also offered his condolences to the families of the killed ones and emphasized that their death is an irrecoverable loss for the families and the Air Force. “Expert investigative authorities will shed light on the cause of the accident”, the Chief of General Staff said.
According to the Air Force and Air Defence Commander Major General Ranko Zivak, the flight today was a routine one within flight training.
“The pilots were excellently trained. I was present at the airport Batajnica when preparations for the task started. They took off, they called while flying over Indjija and Sabac and after that we lost contact”, Major General Zivak said. According to him, after that, search and rescue have begun and the crash site was soon located and secured.
Within his competence, the Air Force and Air Defence Commander has also formed an expert commission with the task to investigate all details of the accident.
