The Israeli Air Force will spare no effort to understand why and how an F16I "Sufa" fighter jet crashed on Wednesday, killing pilot Maj. Ohad Cohen Nov, IAF Commander Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel told the grieving family during a condolence visit on Thursday. Cohen Nov was laid to rest at 11 a.m. Friday in his home of Moshav Mazor in central Israel. The IAF launched an investigation into the crash, which one official called "an extremely unusual accident." An initial investigation indicates that Cohen Nov and the navigator flying with him noticed an imbalance in the weight of the jet prior to landing at Ramon Air Base. The imbalance was most likely caused after the aircraft fired a precision missile during a retaliatory airstrike in the Gaza Strip, launched following a Wednesday rocket attack on Sderot. IAF officials said Cohen Nov and the navigator followed protocol, trying to compensate for the imbalance by increasing altitude and attempting a second, safer landing, which is when the jet caught fire. The two decided to eject, as is usual in these situations, with the navigator ejecting first, so that the two pilots' parachutes would not become entangled, and the pilot following within seconds. The navigator was able to eject and clear the aircraft, escaping with only minor injuries, but Cohen Nov was unable to escape the flames in time. "Landing in an unbalanced state requires a skillful pilot. It happens. If the team feels that it has approached the runway in less than optimal conditions, the protocol is to circle back and try again," B., an IAF squadron pilot, told Israel Hayom. The IAF decided not to ground its fleet of F-16I jets, as is standard practice in cases in which a technical problem is discovered in a aircraft. However, the military stressed Thursday that the exact circumstance of the crash were still under investigation. The navigator sustained only minor injuries, and his testimony is expected to shed light on the investigation, led by an IAF colonel. The investigative team will also review data, communications recordings, and photographs. Cohen Nov's death came as a shock to his fellow pilots. Y., a member of his squadron, told Israel Hayom that Cohen Nov "was just a really great guy. Nice, a sense of humor. It's really sad. It's more dangerous to drive in a car than [fly] a plane, but the accident reminds us that flying is, ultimately, dangerous." Meanwhile, residents of Moshav Mazor found it difficult to believe Cohen Nov was gone. "Here, across from the house, there's a memorial to the [moshavniks] who were killed in wars, mostly in the Yom Kippur War and the ones that came before it. We never imagined that the name of a young man from Moshav Mazor would be written on this stone. And who? Ohad Cohen Nov? The height of perfection. The IAF family, the Moshav Mazor family, and we have lost the salt of the earth," a friend who arrived to console the Cohen Nov family said Thursday. "I'm sitting with his parents and sisters, and there's nothing to be said. There are just no words. You can see on their faces how hard this is for them. You don't need to go on about it. If only we never had to eulogize another person from this moshav," the friend said. Hadas Green, a close friend of Cohen Nov's older sister, Hila, said: "Our mischief maker is gone. I look at the pictures of him, a kid smiling from ear to ear. Is this real? He was a kid everybody loved. When he was a kid he was mischievous, and it didn't matter what tricks he pulled -- even if people got mad at him -- he'd smile. It was the same when he grew up. You couldn't stay mad at him. Never. Ohad was an amazing guy, always smiling, grinning from ear to ear, an amazing uncle and the No. 1 brother. It can't be that he's gone." Green said that Cohen Nov had been raised by "everyone." "Whether it was pushing him around in his stroller, or when he completed the pilots training course, we all went together to see him get his wings. When he got married, we helped his sister decorate the car. [He was] a modest guy from a modest family. This kid was just a prince," she said. Another neighbor said: "Ohad is one of ours. He'll always stay that way, even when he's no longer among the living."
