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Spain: Military jet crashes into house, killing three

01 September 2005

On 2 September 2005, a C-101 military aircraft (made by Spanish consortium EADS-CASA) crashed into two houses in the town centre of Baeza (in the province of Jaén, Andalusia) when its pilot, air force captain José Francisco Cabezas, lost control after doing a pirouette and narrowly avoiding the town's cathedral. He was in an area that lay outside the flight plan for his training flight. The pilot died in the accident, as did a woman and her nine-month old baby. Neighbours claimed that it was not the first time that Cabezas, from San Javier air force base in Murcia, flew at low altitude carrying out acrobatic exercises over his hometown. They said that the tragedy "was foreseeable and could have been avoided". Defence minister José Bono confirmed that Cabezas had "acted contrary to regulations" and had "paid with his life", adding that a file had been opened on the pilot for flying at a low altitude over inhabited areas in 1998.

As a result of the crash, four houses will be demolished and the families living in them will be re-located. A representative for the family of María Lorenza López, the woman who died in the accident, blamed the air force for the crash: "the responsibility for this event does not just belong to the person who caused it, but also those who tolerate and accept it as normal" that such exercises take place over towns. The family's lawyer has asked for documents, including the deceased pilot's flight plans, in order to decide whether to sue the air force.

On 16 September, the defence minister presented a draft reform of the armed forces sanction regime and the military criminal code that envisages prison sentences of between one and six years for air force pilots who fly over inhabited areas contravening orders from their superiors or existing regulations. The reform also envisages that pilots who place a population or an aircraft at risk may face extraordinary sanctions under which they could be stripped of their flying aptitude certificate, be suspended, or be demoted or excluded from the armed forces.

El País, 2-6, 13, 17.9.05.