'PSD helicopter crashes, pilot dead, co-pilot in fair condition'

AMMAN — A Public Security Department (PSD) pilot was killed and his co-pilot was injured when their helicopter crashed while they were carrying out a night training mission near Zai, Salt, a PSD source said  on Tuesday. 

Civil Defence Department personnel evacuated the body and took the wounded pilot, whose condition was reported as fair, to hospital, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

The PSD said the crash was due to a technical malfunction, expressing its condolences to the family of the pilot.

A team has been formed to investigate the incident, a PSD statement said.

A security source identified the deceased pilot as Lt. Hazem Hassouneh and the injured as Captain Hussein Najdawi.

Hassouneh’s uncle, Ibrahim, was a major with the Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF). He died in April last year when his jet fighter crashed in the north of the Kingdom during a training mission.

His student, Laith Ali from Iraq, was also killed in the crash.

In mid-January, an RJAF aircraft crashed during a regular training mission due to a technical failure.

In a statement carried by Petra at the time, a Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army official said the two pilots ejected and parachuted safely. 

In May 2013, pilot Lt. Col. Maen Duheisat and student pilot Nael Khashman were killed in a crash near the King Hussein Airbase in Mafraq, close to the Syrian border, when their Firefly plane crashed due to technical problems.