Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta on Thursday took a test flight aboard an US two-stick F16 fighter jet as the co-pilot, when visiting an air base at Campia Turzii, part of his visit to the 71st Air Base of Campia Turzii in central Romania.

The prime minister got aboard the plane dressed in a flight suit after a routine health checkup. The fight took 40 minutes, as several F-16s and MiG 21 LanceRs flew demo flights.

Dacian Viper 2014, a week-long joint exercise of Romanian and US pilots will finish late Thursday. More than 200 Romanian servicemen, pilots and technical staff aboard MiG LanceRs and about 250 servicemen of the US Air Force aboard F-16 aircraft, from Base Aviano in Italy, are taking part in the exercise.

This year in its 4th edition, the Dacian Viper exercises were held in 2006, 2008 and 2012 for the joint training of pilots, technical staff, air traffic controllers and major staff officers. It entails real-life training in planning and conducting flight missions in mixed formations.

As part of the joint drill, Romanian pilots will fly American F-16 fighter jets, while the US pilots fly MiG 21 LanceRs aircraft of the Romanian Air Force.

"The exercise was planned one year ago and is a normal training within NATO," said at the opening last Thursday Colonel Christopher Austin, commander of the American Squadron 510 in Aviano, adding that six F-16 planes were brought to Romania's air base.

The Romanian government last summer announced the purchase of a 12-strong squadron of used F-16 multirole fighters from Portugal, to replace the current Soviet-built MIG-21 Lancers jet fighters, some 48 in number, which after 40 years of missions are towards the end of their flight resources.