Assaf Ramon, the son of Israel’s first astronaut Colonel Ilan Ramon has emerged unscathed from a difficult situation, a major system malfunction in his training plane.

Assaf if the eldest son of the late astronaut Ilan Ramon, who perished along with the crew of the Colombia space shuttle six years ago. Assaf’s training plane malfunctioned during a routine training flight a month ago, the details only being cleared for publication now.

Ramon was in a sky hawk, the training plane used on the Chatzeirim base. Seated behind him was a veteran air force flight instructor. Suddenly, the plane’s engine stalled, an occurrence described a “major”, permitting the crew to use their ejection seats to bring themselves to safety and abandon the airplane.

The veteran instructor remained calm, as did his student, and Assaf was instructed to carry out a number of emergency tasks which were successful, preventing their need to eject and thereby saving the aircraft. The two then landed the plane without incident on the base.

Assaf was inducted in the air force 2.5 years ago, expressing a desire to carry on his father’s work. He is considered one of the exemplary cadets, slated to graduate this summer.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)