During demonstrations, the An-2 aircraft crashed in the suburbs during demonstrations

In the suburbs, the An-2 aircraft crashed during a demonstration flight, TASS reports . The pilot Dmitry Sukharev and the correspondent Boris Voylevich were killed on board, there were no victims on the ground.

After the dead loop, the plane unfolded low above the runway. At some point, the biplane touched the ground with a wing. The plane completely collapsed, its fragments lit up. Firefighters immediately drove up to the place of disaster, but it was no longer possible to save the pilots.

The cause of the incident is established, an investigative-operational group is working on the spot. The emergency services of TASS reported that the main version of the An -2 crash is an error of the crew. "The pilots showed the figures of the highest aerobatics. When performing a dead loop, perhaps a mistake was made, the pilot lost control, and the plane fell," the source said.

The press service of the administration of the city district of Balashikha reported that the plane was private. The permission for flights was issued by the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosavision). The plane was technically serviceable, it was controlled by an experienced pilot.

The air show was held at the Black Dosaaf airfield in the village of Fedurnovo near Balashikha. The demonstrations were dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the first flight of An-2.

An -2 is a piston single -engine biplane, the first development of a design bureau led by Oleg Antonov. On August 31, 1947, the An-2 prototype, which then had the designation of the SHU-1, first rose to the sky. On August 23, 1948, the aircraft under the designation of the An-2 was adopted by the Air Force and to supply the civilian fleet. Serial production began in 1949.

The An-2 is used as an agricultural, sports, transport, passenger plane and is in service with the Air Force of many countries. An-2 was produced in the USSR (until 1971), Poland (until 2002) and continues to be produced in the PRC. It is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the only plane in the world that has been produced for more than 60 years. In total, more than 18 thousand cars were built. In Russia now there are 1580 An-2 aircraft, of which more than 300 are suitable for operation.

As of August, 618 An-2 was lost in aviation accidents and disasters. The total number of victims of the AN-2 disasters was 768 people.