Bogor. A senior Indonesian Air Force officer and former F-16 fighter pilot, Air Commodore Fajar Adriyanto, was killed in an ultralight aircraft glider crash in Bogor, West Java, on Sunday. He was 55.

The Quicksilver GT500 trycicle aircraft, carrying Fajar and a co-pilot, crashed into a public cemetery in Ciampea District around 9 a.m. Witnesses said the aircraft had been circling above the area moments before it lost control and plunged to the ground. The passenger sustained serious injuries and was taken to a nearby hospital.

The incident was captured on video by a local resident using a cellphone.

The Indonesian Aero Sport Federation (FASI) confirmed the fatality in a statement: “We are saddened to report that the PK-S216 aircraft has crashed, resulting in the death of the pilot, Air Commodore Fajar Adriyanto.”

Fajar was a 1992 graduate of the Indonesian Air Force Academy and a former F-16 pilot known by his call sign "Red Wolf." From 2007 to 2010, he commanded the 3rd Squadron at Iswahyudi Air Force Base in Madiun, East Java, and later served as commander of Manuhua Air Force Base in Biak, Papua, until 2019.

Well known in media circles, Fajar served as the Indonesian Air Force’s spokesman between May 2019 and November 2020.

Eyewitness Hidayat, who recorded the aircraft’s final moments, said the aircraft appeared to struggle before the crash. “It was circling several times and then went down. It was carrying two people -- one looked like a military officer. One person died, and the other was badly injured,” he said.

Authorities are investigating the cause of the crash.

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The story has been corrected to reflect the correct type of aircraft. We apologize for the previous mistake.

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