The pilot landed without a plane
In the town of Kubinka near Moscow, a MiG-29 fighter crashed during landing. Lieutenant Colonel Gennady Avramenko, who piloted the car, managed to eject from a height of three meters and remain alive. A special commission created to investigate the disaster must establish its causes within a week.

The fighter aviation regiment stationed in the town of Kubinka near Moscow is designed to protect the airspace over Moscow and the narrow air corridor in the western direction. In order not to lose their combat skills, the regiment's pilots make daily training flights, which in military parlance are called "combat mission sorties."
On Tuesday evening, pilot 1st class Lieutenant Colonel Gennady Avramenko was scheduled to perform one of these training flights on a MiG-29 fighter. During the flight, which lasted more than an hour, neither the pilot nor the ground services noticed anything suspicious, and upon completion of the “combat mission,” the flight director gave Avramenko the go-ahead to land.
At approximately 18.30, when the fighter began to sharply descend, the ground service, which was driving the plane to land, noticed a malfunction in the operation of some instruments and immediately informed Avramenko about it. But the message was received by the pilot when the plane was approximately 10-15 meters from the runway. According to the military, it was no longer possible to land the car safely, although the pilot intended to do so. Then the flight director ordered Avramenko to urgently eject. According to the Air Force press service, the ejection seat and the pilot left the MiG-29 at an altitude of three meters from the ground and the lieutenant colonel remained alive.
The K-36DM catapult was developed at the Zvezda research and production enterprise near Moscow. The K-36 seats were put into service in 1970, since then they have undergone 15 modifications and saved the lives of more than 500 pilots, with 97% of them returning to service and continuing to fly. Since then, not only MiGs, but also combat vehicles made at the Sukhoi Design Bureau have been equipped with such seats. The superiority of Russian catapults, which eject a pilot even from an airplane that is practically in contact with the ground, is recognized throughout the world.
The causes of the disaster that occurred in Kubinka have not yet been established. It is only known that the crashed MiG, although not a new aircraft, has not yet exhausted its flight life.

YURIY-SENATOROV

Newspaper "Kommersant" No. 203 dated 04.11.1999, page 3

Authors:

Yuri Senatorov