A Cirrus SR-20 training aircraft belonging to the French Air and Space Force crashed on the morning of April 10, 2026, during a low-altitude training flight in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department of southern France. Both crew members, an instructor and a student pilot, survived with injuries.
The French Ministry of the Armed Forces said in a statement that the aircraft went down at approximately 9:30 a.m. local time in an uninhabited area near Montagne de Lure. The aircraft had departed from Base Aérienne 701 at Salon-de-Provence, home to the École de l’Air et de l’Espace, France’s military aviation academy.
Both crew members were conscious after the crash and were able to alert rescue services themselves. A search and rescue mission was immediately launched, and the two were evacuated to nearby hospitals. The Ministry did not disclose the severity of their injuries.
The Bureau Enquêtes Accidents (BEA), France’s air accident investigation authority, has been tasked with determining the cause of the crash.
The Cirrus SR-20 is a single-engine piston aircraft used by the French military for initial pilot training, covering basic flight instruction and fundamental piloting skills. The type has been operated from Salon-de-Provence since 2012 as part of the Centre de Formation Aeronautique Militaire Initiale (CFAMI). The French Air and Space Force currently operates 17 SR-20 and SR-22 aircraft in the training role.
It is not the first incident involving the type in French military service. In April 2021, a Cirrus SR-22 from the same base crashed near the A7 motorway in Bouches-du-Rhône after the crew encountered mechanical problems. In that case, the three crew members on board were saved by the aircraft’s Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS), a ballistic recovery parachute designed to lower the entire aircraft to the ground in an emergency.
The Cirrus fleet is set to be replaced under the Mentor 2 program, which will see 29 Pilatus PC-7 MKX turboprop trainers and 12 simulators introduced at Salon-de-Provence. The contract, awarded to Babcock International France Aviation in late 2024, covers a 17-year period and will consolidate France’s basic pilot training pipeline onto the Pilatus platform alongside the PC-21, already in use for advanced training at Cognac-Chateaubernard.
