Training plane crash kills two pilots

An Air Force training plane crash-landed during flight training in Cheongwon, North Chungcheong Province, killing two pilots, officials said Tuesday.

The T-103 plane crashed about 2 kilometers away from a runway at a military training facility at around 1:30 p.m.

Second Lieut. Lee Min-woo and flight trainer Nam Gwan-woo died in the crash, officials said.

The Air Force immediately set up a team ― headed by the vice Air Force chief ― to investigate the cause of the crash.

“The plane flew at a lower than usual altitude, and one of its wheels was caught on an electrical wire, and then it crashed,” one of the witnesses told reporters.

T-103 is a Russian-made training plane for entry-level pilots. A total of 23 T-103s were introduced here under a 2004 deal that allowed Russia to give weapons to South Korea instead of paying back economic cooperation loans.

The plane, with a maximum speed of 340 kilometers per hour, can reach an altitude of 3,000 meters. One plane costs around $156,000.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)