Flying put on hold after Typhoon crashes during multi-national exercise in Australia
All flying on Pitch Black - a multi-national exercise in Australia - has been suspended after an Italian air force pilot was forced to eject from his Typhoon.
The pilot encountered an unknown issue with the Typhoon - which is known as the EFA 2000 in Italian service - during a training flight.
The pilot is safe and well and was taken to hospital within three hours.
The aircraft came down outside of the Darwin and Katherine flying areas in the Northern Territory.
The crash site is now the subject of a safety investigation and Australian defence officials have asked people to avoid the area.
A temporary pause has been placed on the exercise while the investigation is carried out.
The incident occurred at 10:45 local time when the pilot made a distress call.
Australian Defence Force personnel in Darwin and Tindal responded immediately, coordinating the location and recovery of the pilot, who was transported to hospital in Darwin.
"Our defence personnel worked rapidly and efficiently to respond to this situation and worked to help recover the pilot," said Air Commodore Peter Robinson.
"We train for these scenarios as part of all of our safety planning and I was pleased to see the integration of international personnel with our own to coordinate the search, rescue and recovery of the pilot to hospital within three hours.
"I would like to thank all of those, including the Northern Territory emergency services who played a part in getting this pilot back to safety."
Exercise Pitch Black 24 involves 140 aircraft, including six RAF Typhoons and an RAF Voyager air-to-air refuelling tanker.
An estimated 4,500 personnel from 20 nations are involved in the exercise.
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