Fighter jets collide ahead of Moscow aviation show

16 August, 2009, 20:11

Two Su-27 fighter jets of the “Russian Knights” aerobatics team have crashed during a final rehearsal ahead of the MAKS 2009 Air Show in the Moscow region. The squadron leader died in the collision.

A single-seat fighter jet SU-27 and a two-seater Su-27UB combat trainer were performing a flight in preparation for MAKS 2009 –Russia’s biggest aviation show – in the town of Zhukovsky.

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When the two planes collided, the pilots ejected themselves from each of the aircraft. But Igor Tkachenko, the commander of the “Russian Knights”, was killed during the accident. ITAR TASS reports his body, parachute and ejection seat have been found near the village of Zakharikha.

The other two pilots have been found alive, with one of them reported to have suffered a spinal fracture.

“There was an orange flash during the collision, then black smoke,” one of the crash witnesses said. “When the smoke cleared, we saw one of the planes spinning down outside the field. We all held our breaths because we couldn’t quite tell what was happening to the pilots, if they were alive or not. We couldn’t see any parachutes,” he said.