Czech light attack aircraft L-159 lost the cockpit canopy during flight

The light multipurpose attack aircraft L-159, while flying, lost the cockpit canopy, and the aircraft landed successfully. The information about the incident was confirmed by the official representative of the General Staff of the Czech Armed Forces, Magdalena Dvorakova.

At a meeting with reporters, Dvorzhakova explained that during a training flight, a two-seater attack aircraft L-159 fell off the cockpit canopy for an unknown reason. There were no casualties on the ground from the fall of the cover; it fell in an uninhabited area.

The crew took actions in accordance with the instructions, went to lower the flight altitude, and then successfully landed the aircraft at the base airfield. The cab cover was found in the field. There are no casualties, she added.

Currently, there is a ban on flights of all L-159s, the reasons for the incident are being investigated by a special commission together with representatives of the manufacturing plant Aero Vodochody.

Recall that a similar incident already occurred in 2016. Then the human factor was recognized as its cause.

Serial production of light multipurpose aircraft L-159A ALCA in a single version for the Czech Air Force was established from 2000 to 2004 at the Aero Vodochody plant. In the period from 2007 to 2011, six aircraft were converted into a two-seater combat training version of the L-159T1. As of 2017, only 17 L-159A and five L-159T1s remained on the balance sheet of the Czech Air Force, the rest were sold.