Zayden and Ben-Bassa
Zayden and Ben-BassaCourtesy of the families

Could the catastrophic plane crash in which Major (Res.) Itay Zayden and Corporal Lihu Ben-Bassa perished have been avoided?

Channel 13 News reported that the 'Tzukit' Grob G 120 plane which the two had flown in had experienced several incidents, contrary the the claims of the Israel Air Force (IAF).

In the last few months, there have been at least two crashes - one of them involving the same model which crashed yesterday. The second crash occurred in September during the attempted landing of the plane.

The defense establishment estimates that a significant failure in the technical systems of the aircraft, which the instructor and the soldier were unable to deal with, caused the crash.

The IDF reported yesterday that the plane had been in the air for several dozen minutes and that no distress call was made. An IDF spokesman reported that this was a normal training session in which the 'Tzukit' plane is frequently used.