Plane Went Down During Routine Training Mission

Israeli Air Force Pilot Lt. Assaf Ramon was killed Sunday when his F-16 fighter jet went down near the town of P'nei Chever in the southern Hebron Hills, during what and Israeli Defence Force statement called a "routine training mission."

Ramon was the son of Col. Ilan Ramon, Israel's first astronaut, who died Feburary 1st, 2003 on board the space shuttle Columbia when it broke up over Texas during re-entry.

Ramon was taking part in Advanced Pilot Training, according to an IDF statement. The cause of the crash is under investigation. CNN reports the Israeli Air Force cancelled all F-16 training until further notice.

Israeli military officials said Lt. Ramon had excelled in an IAF pilot training course last month, received a presidential honor, and was given his pilot's wings by President Shimon Peres, who said of the accident "What has befallen us today is more than a tragedy, it is a fracture, I knew both of them: Assaf was a fighter,  the son of a fighter; a dreamer among dreamers. They are a symbol of everything that is good in the Jewish state, they were the most exceptional of the exceptional.”

The IDF said Ramon was posthumously promoted to the rank of Captain.

FMI: http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/