Accident over Zhukovsky airfield in August, 2009

[ghost]

The head of Russian Knights died...He was a brave man. And...some people say he was thinking to retire after August air show at MAKS-2009.

Anyway, the Russian Knights is THE ONLY ONE in the world sky aerobatic team who performs the show on a heavy fighters...And..you would respect them twice more if you learn what scrap they have to fly on...

 

[Haavarla]

ghost;179910]The head of Russian Knights died...He was a brave man. And...some people say he was thinking to retire after August air show at MAKS-2009.

R.i.p.

Anyway, the Russian Knights is THE ONLY ONE in the world sky aerobatic team who performs the show on a heavy fighters...And..you would respect them twice more if you learn what scrap they have to fly on...

What do you mean?
What's wrong with the Su-27PDs?



Thanks

 

[GI-Gizmo]

Russian Knights Accident Predicted...

The Russian Knights commander, Col. Igor Tkachenko, seems to of predicted his own death. Col. Tkachenko had publicly commented on
the poor state of the 4x Su-27P and 2x Su-27UB fighter jets recently,
saying that the planes were in too poor a condition to be flown by a regular fighter squadron. He also said that the required maintnence was not being done and that the chances for something to go wrong were very high.
There has always been complaints that the Su-27 is not the right fighter for
demonstration team flying. The main reasons given by the pilots were the planes heavy weight, large dimension, inertness, peculiarities of the fly-by-wire control system and ,perhaps counterintuitively, its superior aerodynamic characteristics. Sadly, nothing was done and now another
major accident involving the Knights has taken place. This time killing the team leader and injuring two other pilots and five civlians. Russia says that the MAKS 2009 airshow at Zhukovsky airfield will go on as scheduled.

 

[Haavarla]

The Russian Knights commander, Col. Igor Tkachenko, seems to of predicted his own death. Col. Tkachenko had publicly commented on
the poor state of the 4x Su-27P and 2x Su-27UB fighter jets recently,
saying that the planes were in too poor a condition to be flown by a regular fighter squadron. He also said that the required maintnence was not being done and that the chances for something to go wrong were very high.
There has always been complaints that the Su-27 is not the right fighter for
demonstration team flying. The main reasons given by the pilots were the planes heavy weight, large dimension, inertness, peculiarities of the fly-by-wire control system and ,perhaps counterintuitively, its superior aerodynamic characteristics. Sadly, nothing was done and now another
major accident involving the Knights has taken place. This time killing the team leader and injuring two other pilots and five civlians. Russia says that the MAKS 2009 airshow at Zhukovsky airfield will go on as scheduled.

ok..
Do you have a link to this poor maintanance report?

This acident was pilot error i think.

Thanks

 

[Marc 1]

Anyway, the Russian Knights is THE ONLY ONE in the world sky aerobatic team who performs the show on a heavy fighters

Why is this fact important?

 

[Duffy]

I would like to see the maintenance report also. Typically midair collisions are do to pilot error. I not saying equipment didn't contribute to the accident put it sounds more like pilot error. God Bless him what he did was put his life in danger on a regular bases to please people he will never meet. Thats a special person.

 

[turin]

What is certainly known is that Tkachenko quit his job shortly before the incident. Media reports claimed that the reason for this is the relocation of the Russian Knights training base from Kubinka near Moscow to Lipetsk. Apparently Tkachenko did not feel comfortable with leaving Moscow. No mention of maintenance issues were made in this article, published by avia.ru citing an Izvestya report on August 18.

From all the reports I have seen so far (which wasnt much) no reason for the accident was mentioned. Observers of the area where one of the planes came down, mentioned unsual behavior of one of the Su's and that the pilot "could not do much about it except bailing out" but I am not sure if they were referring to the reason for the collision or what happend afterwards.

 

[Haavarla]

What is certainly known is that Tkachenko quit his job shortly before the incident. Media reports claimed that the reason for this is the relocation of the Russian Knights training base from Kubinka near Moscow to Lipetsk. Apparently Tkachenko did not feel comfortable with leaving Moscow. No mention of maintenance issues were made in this article, published by avia.ru citing an Izvestya report on August 18.

From all the reports I have seen so far (which wasnt much) no reason for the accident was mentioned. Observers of the area where one of the planes came down, mentioned unsual behavior of one of the Su's and that the pilot "could not do much about it except bailing out" but I am not sure if they were referring to the reason for the collision or what happend afterwards.

Arent there some comunication from the pilots just before the mid-air collision out there(Youtube)?

like this one:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAkO2n6sI5k&feature=related"]YouTube - Столкновение Су-27, ЖуковÑкий 2009, реконÑтрукциÑ[/ame]

Dont think i heard anything was wrong with the planes.


Thanks

 

[GI-Gizmo]

The cause could be either or both...

ok..
Do you have a link to this poor maintanance report?

This acident was pilot error i think.

Thanks

I think the accident was part pilot error and part aircraft malfunction.
The Russian pilots definently do not get enough training, in the cockpit or in the simulator. Formation acrobatic flying in high performance jets requires massive amounts of training and knowledge. The Knights have had alot
of accidents since 1991 and Russia has had alot of problems with the quality and maintenance of aircraft lately. They also have a reputation going back to Soviet times of not keeping their jets properly maintained. Obviously I do not know for sure what caused the accident and it is just speculation.

2 Russian jets collide, crash in air show training - USATODAY.com

Morale: A Russian Scary Tale

 

[Duffy]

I hate to say this but I hope it was mechanical and not pilot error.especially if its the pilot that survived thats just a bad deal all around. With out video footage they may never conclusively know what happened.:frown