Colonel Nguyen Xuan Son, Political Commissar of Binh Dinh Province's Military Command, disclosed that earlier that afternoon they had identified Lieutenant Colonel Quan's location, but the combination of intricate terrain and heavy precipitation resulted in signal loss, impeding further communication. The whereabouts of the Yak-130 aircraft remained undetermined at that time.
That evening, Chairman Pham Anh Tuan of the Binh Dinh Province People's Committee announced that the temporary Incident Command Center was mobilizing forces into the mountainous forest region of Ham Ho in Tay Son District to locate both pilots and was successful in saving Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Hong Quan first.
The incident began in the morning of November 6 when Air Regiment 940, under the Air Force Officers’ College of the Air Defense-Air Force, conducted training flights at Phu Cat Airport utilizing a Yak-130 aircraft (tail number 210D).
The exercise involved long-distance navigation and cloud penetration under adverse meteorological conditions. The flight crew consisted of Colonel Nguyen Van Son, Commander of Air Regiment 940, in the forward cockpit, and Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Hong Quan, flight instructor, in the rear cockpit. This was the third flight of the day and the second for the front-seat pilot.
The Yak-130 took off at 09:55 a.m. At 10:38 a.m., during landing approach, the pilots reported a landing gear malfunction, with emergency deployment procedures proving unsuccessful. The pilots subsequently received authorization to eject.
Both aviators ejected at 10:51 a.m. near the TB2 Firing Range area of Tay Son District (Binh Dinh Province). Following Military Region V's directives, the provincial Military Command established a temporary command post and deployed 82 personnel alongside 60 militia members for search operations.
Despite heavy rainfall throughout the afternoon and evening, search efforts continued across Binh Hoa, Tay Xuan, Tay Phu, and Vinh An communes (Tay Son District) to locate both pilots and the wreckage of the Yak-130 aircraft (serial number 210D).
Due to the challenging terrain, dense forest, steep cliffs, and heavy rain, the rescue operation faced significant difficulties. At 10:00 p.m., the search team finally located Colonel Nguyen Van Son, the commander of the Air Regiment 940 and the second pilot involved in the crash, in the Ham Ho Forest area (Tay Phu Commune), near the previously discovered location of Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Hong Quan.
The search team promptly evacuated Colonel Son from the forest for medical assistance.
