The air above northeastern France showed rainbow smoke trails and powerful jet engine sounds.
On this day the Patrouille de France team planned to conduct their usual smooth training exercises.
Air Base 113 launched the team whose outstanding performance skills included aerial stunts.
They planned to practice an advanced aerial show for their future event.
Seven Alpha Jets flew together in perfect position as they let red, white, and blue smoke flow from their tails.
The grounded spectators felt excited when they saw the planes dance through many different movements.
Throughout the past decades the Alpha Jet twin-engine aircraft has served as the essential flying machine for the Patrouille de France team.
French military operates these planes to train both their pilots and those from Ukraine.
Saint-Dizier city announced a complete week of flight events starting from Monday.
Disaster Recruitments started running Monday to Friday but ended with a special practice session at night.
Regular training activities transformed into a nightmare as they occurred over Saint-Dizier at 3:35 p.m.
The display started as a masterful exchange of airplane movements but quickly transformed into a scene of disorder.
Witnesses described a sharp “bang” that shook nearby buildings and caused confusion on the ground.
“I felt the compound vibrate, and we saw debris falling from the sky,” one worker told local media.
Three individuals floated down in their parachutes as fires burst from their aircraft.
The pilots and one guest used their parachutes to safely escape the jet and touch down safely.
All three were found conscious, with two transported to a local hospital in “relative emergency.”
A third, described as a “multi-trauma sufferer,” is being treated by military medical services.
Emergency services came to the scene first and started the SATER aircraft search and recovery procedure.
Emergency personnel used helicopters to search for the crash sites while police and medical teams blocked access to the area.
Credit: (Youtube/FameFiles)
One of the jets crashed into a concrete silo at Calin concrete where the base is located.
The blowout of the impact created a fire that needed immediate firefighting response.
The last jet crashed directly into a local canal before the aircraft collision.
The authorities confirmed that no members of the public were hurt even though they lived close to the accident site.
During his visit to the site Saint-Dizier Mayor Quentin Brière commended the pilots for how they handled things.
He urged the public to remain calm and not “give in to panic” amid the shocking scenes.
France’s Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu issued a message about the crash on social media.
The defense and interior departments were already ready to respond during the emergency response activation.
A federal agency looks into all aspects of the accident to find its origins and sequence.
Authorities will analyze the delivery issues to find what caused the failure and protect upcoming training exercises.
Authorities have since revealed that both planes involved in the incident were totally lost during the crash.
During a safety test activity the planes experienced a fatal aircraft collision at once
Feature Image Credit: (Youtube/FameFiles) and (Facebook/siecker)