Defence Ministry: Romanian air force pilot dead in France

Commodore Ion Staiculescu, commander of the 90th Operational Group of the 90th Air Transport Otopeni Base, on mission in Cherbourg, France, has died, on Saturday, in the hotel room he was booked in, according to a release of the National Defence Ministry (MApN).

"The officer was participating, as an aircraft commander, in the multinational exercise organized by the French Army in the May 31 - June 4 period, to mark 74 years since the allied invasion of Normandy. In this exercise Romania was participating with a detachment formed of 33 paratroopers and one C27J Spartan aircraft. On the morning of this day, the officer was found unconscious by his colleagues in the hotel room. Emergency medical intervention was requested but resuscitation maneuvers conducted by the French medical crew were without results, doctors registering the official time of death around 10:00, local time. The case is investigated, according to procedures, by French judiciary authorities," the quoted source reveals.

According to it, Commodore Ion Staiculescu was a pilot, first class, with a combined flight experience of 7,500 flight hours, of which approximately 3,500 on C 27J Spartan aircraft, an aicraft he flew as commanding pilot instructor. The officer, aged 55, was with the Ministry of National Defence since 1986. He was married and had one child.

MApN representatives have started the demarches to allow the return of the body to Romania.