ARCHIVED - The air academy plane which crashed on Thursday was one of the oldest in service

The C-101: 40 years of service and on the verge of substitution

It has emerged following the death aerobatics pilot Commander Eduardo Fermín Garvalena on Thursday, when his C-101 Patrulla Águila plane plummeted into the Mediterranean off the coast of La Manga, that the aircraft he was piloting was among the oldest still in service at the Academia General del Aire based in San Javier, having been in use for over 30 years.

The CASA C-101 Aviojet model is known by pilots as the “Mirlo” (blackbird) and has been used by thousands of pilots during their training. The age of the plane, though, combined with the accident last year in which another experienced pilot lost his life, is bound to lead to questions being asked about the continued use of this jet between now and the delivery of the Pilatus planes which have been ordered to replace the C-101 over the next couple of years.

The C-101 was acquired by the Spanish air force to replace the previous trainer jet, the T-6 (Texan), and the first four were delivered in March 1980. The Spanish-built aircraft is an advanced training model which allows pilots to develop their skills from beginnier level right up until their graduation to fighter jets, and has earned widespread priase for its aerodynamics, reliability, manoeuvrability, economy and instrumentation.

C-101s are due to be replaced

But in November Spain’s Ministry of Defence announced that the C-101 jet planes used by pilots at the air force training academy in San Javier (the Academia General del Aire, or AGA) are to be replaced by the autumn of 2021,following the death of former Patrulla Águila pilot Commander Francisco Marín in August when his plane plunged into the Mediterranean just off La Manga del Mar Menor. It is worth noting that at the time Margarita Robles, the Minister for Defence, dismissed any notion that the C-101 had become obsolete or that they represented a risk for pilots in any way at all.

In a tragic few weeks for the AGA that was the first of two fatal accidents, the second involving a trainee and her instructor on 16^th September who crashed into the Mar Menor, although on that occasion the C-101 was not involved.

The C-101, which has been in use at San Javier for 40 years and has become a common sight in the sky above the Mar Menor and the east of the Region of Murcia, will be phased out gradually to be completely replaced for the 2021-22 year at the AGA by the Swiss-manufactured Pilatus PC-21, a turboprop plane rather than a jet. The acquisition of 24 aircraft will cost the Ministry over 204 million euros (at just over 8.5 million each), representing a 9 per cent saving on the budget originally set aside in April – before the death of Commander Marín, it should be noted, indicating that the replacement of the C-101 was already planned before the fatal accident.

Among the features of the Pilatus which made it the preferred option over a bid submitted by Textron Aviation Defense are land-based training systems, two cabin simulators and the turboprop engine, which is similar to fifth-generation fighter planes and provides trainees with a complete aeronautical training from their first flight experience to the moment they are ready to pilot actual fighter planes.

The first six new planes are scheduled to be delivered as early as March 2020 but will be used as trainer aircraft from the 2021-22 course onwards, while the Ministry now weighs up options to replace the 149 F-5 planes currently used at the AGA in “hunt and attack” training (phases III and IV of the program).

But the phasing out of the C-101s will not only affect trainee pilots: the Patrulla Águila aerobatics squadron will also be making the transition to the Pilatus, and it is reported that while on the one hand they have a sentimental attachment to the jets they have been flying for decades the new aircraft is technically superior. Similarly, there are feelings of regret that the Spanish-made C-101 is to be replaced by a Swiss plane, but on a practical level there is ample justification, certainly following the tragic accident this afternoon.

Last month the Minister for Defence, Margarita Robles, confirmed during a visit to the region, that the investigation into the three deaths of last year had still not yielded conclusive results. No decision had been taken either as to whether the minesweeper Turia, which ran aground during attempts to retrieve the remains of the C-101, would be repaired or scrapped. This decision, she said, had not been made until a full evaluation of the costs had been finalised.

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Image 1: Patrulla Águila

Image 2: Pilatus