Spanish Eurofighter crashes killing its pilot

A Eurofighter Typhoon figher jet belonging to the Spanish Air Force crashed near Seville killing the pilot. The plane was preparing to land at Moron de la Frontera airbase when the accident occurred.

According to various eyewitnesses, the Eurofighter Typhone was preparing to land after a routine exercise, but one kilometer before the runway it started to lose altitude and dropped out of the sky. The aircraft slammed into the ground and exploded.

The plane was being flown by a single pilot and eyewitnesses said he did not try to catapult. Spain's defence ministry spokesman confirmed the pilot died in the accident. The accident is now under investigation by a committee trying to figure out the cause of the incident.

Moron Air Base is situated about 60 kilometer away from Seville, the capital city of the autonomous region of Andalusia. The air base is home to Spanish and US forces which consider it a key point of its operations in the Mediterranean area.

However, only the Spanish Air Force here operates the Eurofighter Typhoone. The aircraft is built by BAE Systems at a cost of 125 million euros per unit (tranche 3). 48 unites have been delivered to Spain and since 2005, three crashed.