CBNNews.com - JERUSALEM, Israel - Two Israel Air Force (IAF) airmen, a pilot and a navigator, were killed when their Cobra helicopter crashed Wednesday night.

The helicopter, which was on a training mission, went down 10 minutes after takeoff from Ramat David Air Force Base.

According to eyewitnesses, a back rotor disconnected and the copter went down "very, very fast," exploding into a ball of flame on impact.

"Suddenly we saw a rotor fall off," eyewitness Moti Navon told Israel Radio. "There was a huge explosion," he said.

One of the fatalities, Major (res.) Shai Danor, 35, a father of five, was from Rosh Ha'ayin. The name of the other victim has not yet been released.

Meanwhile, the military grounded the whole fleet of Cobras to avert another technical malfunction such as this one.

While Cobras have had very few accidents, the fleet has been in service since the mid-1970s, some nearly 40 years old.

Source: YNet news