Jet fatality at resort
THE Spanish air force pilot who died on a training mission last week has been named as Eduardo Fermin Garvalena, a 38-year-old from Granada. He was flying his C-101 plane last Thursday when it plunged into the sea off the Murcian resort of La Manga. Mr Garvalena was said to be a very experienced pilot with over 2,000 hours in the air whose job in this instance was “to test the limits of the craft.”
He was based in San Javier and last year replaced instructor Francisco Marin who also died in a C-101 crash. The wreckage has been recovered and is with the San Javier’s bases crash investigation team. In a statement the air force said that the pilot had not ejected from the plane. The C-101 crafts are being phased out and are due to be replaced before the end of 2020.
