IAF chief grounds fleet after two die in helicopter crash at sea

The chief of the Israeli Air Force, Amikam Norkin, grounded its fleet of AS565 Panther helicopters after one of the aircraft crashed into the Mediterranean on Monday night, killing two of the crew members onboard and injuring a third, the military said.

Norkin also halted all training flights and formed an investigative commission, led by a colonel, to look into the cause of the crash, the Israel Defense Forces said.

The fleet will be grounded until further notice, according to the IDF.

The two fatalities were later named as Lt. Col. Erez Sachyani and Maj. Chen Fogel. Their families have been notified, the IDF said in a statement.

The military was working to recover all fragments of the aircraft in order to “begin a thorough investigation,” IAF Brig. Gen. Amir Lazar told reporters early Tuesday morning.

To assist in the effort to find all the pieces of the helicopter, the head of the IDF Home Front Command, Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin, issued a rare order declaring the section of the Haifa coast where the aircraft crashed to be a closed military zone, barring civilians from the area, the military said.

“We can’t yet guess what happened. The helicopters are older, but they are durable,” Lazar said.

The AS565 Panther helicopter, known by the IAF as an “Atalef,” or bat, is a 25-year-old aircraft primarily used for missions at sea.

Illustrative: An Israeli Air Force Eurocopter AS565 Panther helicopter lands on board the USS Laboon on May 13, 2015. (US Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Desmond Parks/Released)

The aircraft are scheduled to be replaced in the next two years with the Seahawk helicopter, a naval-focused version of the Blackhawk helicopter currently in use by the IAF.

According to the military, the helicopter was taking part in a training exercise when it went down. It was in the air for roughly an hour before it crashed.

The air force acquired the AS565 Panther helicopters in 1996 from the French company Eurocopter, which has since been folded into European aerospace giant Airbus.

The aircraft is used at sea as it is capable of landing on Israeli Navy missile ships, specifically Sa’ar-5 class models. The new Seahawk helicopters were purchased to complement the four new, more advanced Sa’ar-6 class ships that will be delivered to the Israeli Navy over the coming years.

The AS565 Panther is used for reconnaissance of enemy coasts, finding maritime targets at sea and search and rescue missions.

An Israeli navy AS565 Panther helicopter lands on a US Navy destroyer during a joint exercise in the Mediterranean Sea, April 9, 2014. (US Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jared King/Released)

The aircraft can be equipped with advanced radar and observation technology for reconnaissance purposes, and can act as the “eyes” of missile ships by locating targets hundreds of kilometers away.

The helicopter is usually crewed by a pilot, co-pilot and a naval officer.

The IAF acquired the…