Moment air display jets crashed during rehearsals (video)

Two French Air Force jets have collided mid-air while rehearsing a stunt.

The crash occurred near the air base in Saint-Dizier, eastern France, on Tuesday afternoon during a training drill involving six Alpha Jets from the Patrouille de France.

Terrifying footage shows how the group of jets were performing a stunt and firing smoke when two aircraft collided in mid-air. 

The two planes then suddenly fell to the ground. Both were destroyed in the crash.

Both pilots and a passenger were able to eject from the planes and were ‘found conscious’, according to French Air and Space Force officials. 

Two people who are in a state of ‘relative emergency’ have been taken to the local hospital, French newspaper Le Figaro reports. The third, described as a ‘multi-trauma sufferer’ is being treated by the Army.

Sébastien Lecornu, France’s Minister of the Armed Forces, confirmed the accident in a statement on X.

‘Emergency services are being mobilised, and coordination is being ensured by the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of the Armed Forces,’ Lecornu said.

The two planes collided during a drill near Air Base 113 around 3.35pm today, according to French Air and Space Force officials.

One of the jets crashed into a silo at the Calin concrete company, which is located near the airbase in Saint-Dizier, and sparked a fire. The other plane is believed to have landed in a canal. 

The Calin concrete company told the newspaper that firefighters are working to extinguish a blaze. Police and paramedics are also on scene. 

No civilian causalities were reported in the incident. 

One witness recalled how they were watching the Aerobatic Patrol team’s performance for 15 minutes when they heard a ‘loud bang’ and felt the ‘compound vibrate’.

‘We looked up and debris was falling from the sky,’ the witness, who works at a nearby dealership, told Puissance Télévision. ‘The pilot landed 50 meters from the compound and was immediately taken away on a stretcher by the firefighters.’ 

Authorities have activated the Sater Plan, a system that organises the search for civil or military aircraft using air, land or radio-electric resources. An Air Force helicopter was seen flying over the area in search of debris. 

Saint-Dizier Mayor Quentin Brière has visited the site and urged locals ‘not to give in to panic’, the TV news outlet reports.

He also applauded the professionalism of the pilots, which he alleges allowed the planes to crash without risk to locals.