Jordanian air force pilot dies in helicopter crash

The Cobra military helicopter went down in the Baqaa area near Amman

French Dassault Rafale fighter-bomber aircraft parked at the Royal Jordanian Air Force's Prince Hassan Air Base (H5), about 117 kilometres northwest of the capital Amman. AFP

A Jordanian air force pilot has died after a Cobra helicopter crash near Amman, a military official said on Tuesday.

The helicopter was on a training mission on Monday when it crashed in Baqaa, just north of Amman, near a large Palestinian refugee camp. The military said at the time that two pilots were on board and that they were in “medium condition” after they were transported to hospital.

One, Maj Mahmoud Al Harasis, has since died.

In June last year two pilots were killed in another Jordanian army training plane crash.

Authorities have reported several air training deaths in the last decade. In 2015, a Jordanian instructor and his Iraqi student were killed when their jet fighter crashed in the north of the country.

In 2013 and 2014, three pilots were killed on training missions in the area.

According to GlobalSecurity.org, Jordan's Air Force has 12,000 active personnel.