A pilot has been praised for his courage after he was believed to have given up his life to protect others during a plane crash in Chiang Mai on Thursday.
Sqn Ldr Naruepol Lueadkusul is promoted to air marshal after the plane crash. (Photo from @prd3cmi Facebook account)
"He knew what he was doing," Royal Thai Air Force commander ACM Chaiyapruk Disyasarin said on Friday as he was waiting to receive the body of Sqn Ldr Naruepol Lueadkusul at the Don Mueang military base.
Sqn Ldr Naruepol died with an Aero L-39 jet as the aircraft crashed in Sarapi district on Thursday.
The air force chief was confident that the pilot refused to eject himself to make sure the plane did not land in a highly populated area.
Sqn Ldr Naruepol, who was a trainer, was sitting in the rear seat of the two-seater jet to train Wg Cdr Thanawat Khunkhunthod, who sat in the front.
Under normal safety procedures, a pilot sitting in the rear compartment is supposed to make an emergency ejection first, followed by the one in the front, when an aircraft cruises at the altitude of 2,000 feet if they lose control of the carrier.
But Sqn Ldr Naruepol was believed to have ordered his student sitting in the front to leave the aircraft first at the altitude of 1,700 feet, only about 700 feet above the high terrains in the northern province, according to the air force commander.
Wg Cdr Thanawat was slightly injured.
The body of Sqn Ldr Naruepol Lueadkusol at the Don Mueang air force base for an autopsy and a religious ceremony after a jet trainer aircraft crashed in Chiang Mai on Thursday. (Royal Thai Air Force video)
The air force is investigating the cause leading to the engine shutdown of the aircraft based at Wing 41 in Chiang Mai. Sqn Ldr Naruepol was promoted to air marshal for his courage.
His Majesty the King granted royal bathing water and sponsor the chanting and funeral rites at Wat Phra Sri Mahathat, ACM Chaiyapruk said.