Female Mirage 2000-5 pilot ejects inexplicably during landing at Tanagra

A female PA pilot ditched her Mirage 2000-5 jet after landing at Tanagra Air Base for no apparent reason.

The pilot's colleagues came running and saved her; the plane was not damaged. Strangely, the plane was checked and found to be in perfect condition: no damage, not even to the brakes, and no warnings of damage, which disproves any suggestion that it was an emergency landing.

Initial reports were that during landing the woman – who turned out to be the PA pilot – had detected a problem and the plane had skidded off the runway uncontrollably, or that she had made an emergency landing. Neither of these is true.

The plane landed normally, there were no technical problems (what was said about a “problem with the brakes” is fiction), which was evident from the subsequent inspection, but the pilot… ejected! The investigation will show how and why. According to the BBC statement:

“On Monday, July 1, 2024, at approximately 1:46 p.m., while taxiing after landing following a training flight, the pilot successfully ejected from an M2000-5 aircraft of the 114th Fighter Wing, Tanagra Air Base. As a precaution, the pilot was taken to the 251st Air Force General Hospital.”

The Mirage 2000-5 fighters of 331 Squadron are (still) among the best fighters of the IAF. 331 Squadron was formed on 18 April 1998 to receive the IAF's recently acquired Mirage 2000 EGM/BGM.

On 1 March 2007, preparations began for the delivery of new Mirage 2000-5 aircraft. On May 3 of that year, the first M2000-5 ICMS Mk-III, as the Air Force calls them, landed at the 114th Combat Wing at Tanagra. This was immediately followed by the start of training of RAF pilots by personnel from France – pilots from the Armée de l'Air (ALA) and Dassault – in order to conduct an operational evaluation of the squadron in May 2008.

The “glass cockpit”, as the cockpit of the French-origin fighter is called, consists of a Head-up-Display (HUD), two multifunctional color screens, a tactical status display installed in the center, and finally a screen installed in the pilot's line of sight, allowing the display of radar readings, combining flight data with the HUD. This innovative development is an exclusive privilege of the Mirage 2000-5.

“The glass cockpit means all the data is available to the pilot and he can use it easily. “In combination with the Data Link system, it can simplify the mission as much as possible and achieve very good results,” continues Major Konstantinos Halatsis. The aircraft's radar allows for air combat with both multiple air and ground targets, so it can handle complex and demanding scenarios.

In an air-to-air combat, the RDY-2 radar is capable of engaging the 4 most dangerous targets out of the 24 it tracks. These targets can be simultaneously engaged by Mica EM/IR air-to-air missiles, which have a range of 35 to 60 km, depending on the position of the carrier aircraft and the opposing target.

The Air Force has two versions of the missile. One has an active guidance system, the other has an infrared seeker head. This way, enemy aircraft in the Aegean Sea do not receive warning of an impending deadly threat, since the missile's guidance is completely passive. The Mirage 2000-5 can carry up to six air-to-air missiles in either the EM or IR variants.

The fighter's powerplant consists of a M-53P2 engine with an afterburner and a power of up to 21,400 pounds. Thanks to this engine, the Mirage 2000-5, both in single-seat and two-seat versions, has excellent performance. The maximum speed reaches Mach 2.2 at a given altitude. The maneuverability of the aircraft remains one of the best in its class, with a design limit of 9G, with excellent behavior at low speeds in close air combat.

The aircraft has strategic strike potential thanks to SCALP EG cruise missiles.

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