Not Fate

All front-line bomber flights have been suspended in Russia

Yesterday, a Su-24 front-line bomber crashed in the Khabarovsk Territory. Fortunately, there were no casualties, as the crew managed to eject. After the disaster, the Air Force command decided to suspend all flights of front-line bombers until the circumstances of the incident were clarified.

The plane took off from Khurba airfield on Thursday to carry out a scheduled training flight. At 6.35 Moscow time, communication with the plane was lost. Two search and rescue helicopters were scrambled into the air. 115 km southwest of the airfield they discovered the crash site of the bomber and the crew. As the head of the information and public relations service of the Russian Air Force, Colonel Alexander Drobyshevsky, told the ITAR-TASS agency, “there are no casualties or destruction on the ground.” “The crew was taken to the medical facility of the Khurba air garrison,” he noted. “The health of the crew is satisfactory.”

According to preliminary data, the cause of the accident was a problem in the aircraft's power supply system. Colonel General Alexander Zelin, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force, said this yesterday. However, the final conclusion will be made by a special commission that is already working at the bomber crash site.

In recent years, there have been several aviation accidents involving Su-24 aircraft in Russia. Thus, the Su-24M crashed on July 30, 2006 during takeoff from the Chernyakhovsk airfield in the Kaliningrad region. Both pilots were killed. In mid-March of the same year, a Su-24M crashed in the Voronezh region. Then both pilots were able to eject.

In addition, on August 7, 2003, a Su-24, performing a scheduled training exercise, crashed into a mountain while landing at a military airfield near Chita. Two crew members on board died. On February 19, 2002, a Su-24 military aircraft went missing 115 km north of Pskov. As a result of the disaster, the crew of the plane, Major Vladimir Shostenko and Colonel Alexander Drozdetsky, died.

On August 18, 1999, a Su-24 combat fighter of the Ukrainian Air Force, stationed in Volyn, crashed. The pilots pulled the flaming car over a populated area and then ejected. The plane entered the swampy soil 10-15 meters without exploding and leaving almost no trace behind it.

The Su-24 front-line supersonic bomber was created at the Sukhoi Design Bureau in response to the appearance of the F-111 multirole tactical fighter in the United States. The new aircraft was supposed to provide all-weather and round-the-clock combat use. In December 1971, the first serial front-line bomber Su-24 took off from the airfield of the Novosibirsk Aviation Plant. Since 1973, the aircraft began operating in combat units, and in 1975 the bomber was adopted by the Soviet Air Force. The production of these vehicles continued until 1993; about 1,200 Su-24s of various modifications were built.

Petr NEMOLYAEV