Fallen Public Security Department pilot laid to rest

AMMAN — Public Security Department (PSD) pilot Lt. Hazem Hassouneh was laid to rest in Sahab on Wednesday after he was killed in a helicopter crash during a night training mission near Zai, Salt on Tuesday night.

PSD Director Maj. Gen. Atef Saudi, Civil Defence Department Director Lt. Gen. Talal Kofahi, Deputy Chairman of the Joint Chiefs-of-Staff Maj. Gen. Ziad Majali and Royal Jordanian Air Force Commander Major Mansour Jbour participated in the funeral, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Hassouneh's co-pilot, Captain Hussein Najdawi, was injured in the crash, which the PSD said was caused by a technical malfunction.

Saudi visited the Hassouneh’s condolences house and expressed his sympathies over the death of the pilot, Petra added. 

The PSD has formed a team to investigate the crash.

Hassouneh was the pilot who took The Jordan Times photographer Osama Aqarbeh in a trip over Amman to take aerial photos of the capital last month.

Aqarbeh described the late pilot as a decent and kind man who was cooperative when asked to fly over the same area again to enable the photographer take clearer pictures.

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