A Mirage 2000D fighter jet crashed Tuesday evening near Nancy, northeastern France, during a training flight in difficult weather conditions, killing at least one person, while the other crew member is still being sought.
The accident of the aircraft at Nancy-Ochey air base 133 occurred near the town of Rogéville around 10:40 p.m., according to a press release from the ministry confirming initial information from the media Ici Lorraine.
“As soon as the information was obtained, we obviously launched all the rescue operations that were possible in difficult weather conditions and in a steep place, not easy to access,” explained the prefect of Meurthe-et-Moselle Yves Séguy during a press conference on site. According to him, the weather conditions were so bad that it was not possible to get a helicopter to fly over the area.
“Night, fog, extremely bad weather, so it was not conceivable,” he said, stressing that as a result all the searches were carried out with actors on foot accompanied by a drone.
“A terrible shock”
Currently, all efforts are focused on the search for the missing crew member, said the commander of Nancy-Ochey air base 133, Ludovic Humbert, during the same press conference.
“For the Nancy air base, which has already been involved in this type of accident in recent years,” it is “a terrible shock,” he said. “We had a very seasoned navigator and a young pilot who arrived on base with all the prerequisites and qualifications necessary to pilot a (Mirage) RMV,” he said.
The flight was part of training missions, which take place most of the time at night, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The officer did not wish to comment at this stage on the possible reasons for the accident, which the investigation will have to determine.
Several accidents with the Mirage 2000D
His career has been punctuated by several accidents, notably in January 2019 in the Jura during a night flight at low altitude during which the pilot and his navigator were both killed. During another accident in July 2021 in the Nancy region, the crew managed to eject.
On August 15, 2024, two Rafale combat aircraft collided during a training flight in the skies of Lorraine, killing two crews, while in March 2025 two Alphajets from the French Patrol also collided near the Saint-Dizier air base (Haute-Marne), the crews managing to eject.
In order to remain in service until the 2030s, the 2000D model received a so-called “mid-life” renovation, the fiftieth and final example of which was delivered to the Air and Space Force in June.
