Belarus Su-27 demo Radom August 28th, tribute to two heroes

[Paul van der Linden]

Take a look at the ejection from this MiG-29 at Le Bourget in 1989, amazing dat he lived to tell!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL1FblthxQ0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[jaah]

Nice pictures of an amazing aircraft and a nice tribute to the pilots.

[bazsi]

I heard that different pilots flew on Friday and Sunday. Can anyone confirm it?

[K2G]

Take a look at the ejection from this MiG-29 at Le Bourget in 1989, amazing dat he lived to tell!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL1FblthxQ0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Paul,

Take a look at the ejection of the Su-27 crash at Lviv. At 1.57 on the video you see the second pilot ejected very close to an Il-76 wing !!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vFWm1lj-A4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hans

[Borygo]

I heard that different pilots flew on Friday and Sunday. Can anyone confirm it?

No. That's rumour only.

[evhest]

Take a look at the ejection of the Su-27 crash at Lviv. At 1.57 on the video you see the second pilot ejected very close to an Il-76 wing !!

I hope that didn't get you to excited... A warning for graphic content should have been added. Very distastefull film. Adding a bit of music doesn't help.

[michel N]

I saw the crash at Radom happening, and after realising both pilots tragically died, I wondered why they are using a two-seater, with two pilots on board (most demoteams which use two-seaters, only fly with one pilot) for a risky business like demo flying. Does anyone know why these SU-27UB's are flying these demo's with two pilots? As most of you know, the crash in Lviv was flown with 2 pilots, and I thought the Russian Knights crash of 2 weeks ago also involved a 2-seater with two pilots.


regards,

MIchel

[GoldenEagle]

Great pictures of te Su-27!
Respect!

[Paul van der Linden]

I saw the crash at Radom happening, and after realising both pilots tragically died, I wondered why they are using a two-seater, with two pilots on board (most demoteams which use two-seaters, only fly with one pilot) for a risky business like demo flying. Does anyone know why these SU-27UB's are flying these demo's with two pilots? As most of you know, the crash in Lviv was flown with 2 pilots, and I thought the Russian Knights crash of 2 weeks ago also involved a 2-seater with two pilots.

regards,

MIchel

Hi,

I am not an expert but especially for non experienced demo pilots, which the Belarus pilots definitely were, it can be easy when another pilot is assisting in "flying" the display routine?

I think demo flying should be forbidden when it is "risky business" but I think it is absolutely safe to fly a well calculated demo routine by a well trained pilot who perfectly knows what he is doing. When you look at the records there were very few crashes by professional well trained demo pilots in the past twenty years or so. Despite that they were very interesting aircraft from a number cruncher point of view, I am therefore very happy that the Ukrainian Falcons no longer exist (talking about risky business..)

Regards, Paul

[Jaap]

I am not an expert but especially for non experienced demo pilots, which the Belarus pilots definitely were, it can be easy when another pilot is assisting in "flying" the display routine?

I think demo flying should be forbidden when it is "risky business" but I think it is absolutely safe to fly a well calculated demo routine by a well trained pilot who perfectly knows what he is doing. When you look at the records there were very few crashes by professional well trained demo pilots in the past twenty years or so. Despite that they were very interesting aircraft from a number cruncher point of view, I am therefore very happy that the Ukrainian Falcons no longer exist (talking about risky business..)

Regards, Paul

Although the average hours of flying time for he Belarus pilots seem to be prity low, I have read nowhere yet about these particular pilots. All I know is that manoeuvres during the qualification flight on Friday were very well executed (above average on airshows).

Having seen that, I rate them as above average demo pilots, although the number of Sukhoi crashes suggests that you need way-above average pilots for this plane!

my two cents,
Jaap

[Paul van der Linden]

I am not an expert but especially for non experienced demo pilots, which the Belarus pilots definitely were, it can be easy when another pilot is assisting in "flying" the display routine?

I think demo flying should be forbidden when it is "risky business" but I think it is absolutely safe to fly a well calculated demo routine by a well trained pilot who perfectly knows what he is doing. When you look at the records there were very few crashes by professional well trained demo pilots in the past twenty years or so. Despite that they were very interesting aircraft from a number cruncher point of view, I am therefore very happy that the Ukrainian Falcons no longer exist (talking about risky business..)

Regards, Paul

Although the average hours of flying time for he Belarus pilots seem to be prity low, I have read nowhere yet about these particular pilots. All I know is that manoeuvres during the qualification flight on Friday were very well executed (above average on airshows).

Having seen that, I rate them as above average demo pilots, although the number of Sukhoi crashes suggests that you need way-above average pilots for this plane!

my two cents,
Jaap

Hi Jaap,

Yes I heard that and they were most likely top of the bill Belarus AF pilots, absolutely best of the best! But the total lack of airshows in Belarus makes it impossible in my opinion that they were routined demo pilots. I was told by a well informed source that the Serbian MiG-29 demo pilot which crashed last month was only granted five training flights for his demo later that month. Compare this to the number of training flights by for example our demo F-16 flown by a very experienced pilot which is now in his third season and flying his demo every two weeks or so!

The fact remains that it sucked big time that this crash took place, whatever the cause might have been!

Gtz, Paul

[aviodromefriend]

Compare this to the number of training flights by for example our demo F-16 flown by a very experienced pilot which is now in his third season and flying his demo every two weeks or so!

Fortunately Sheik is flying more then every two weeks. Actually there is a given period for our F-16 display (and I thought that period is your two weeks) that, if the pilot hasn't flown his display, he has to be requalified by his basecommander before being allowed to go public again.

@ michel N: The rule in NATO is: Display flying is only allowed with as less as possible crew. Here we are talking about Belarus, which is not a NATO country (like all other coutries whose crashes are discussed in this topic), so this rule doesn't apply to the crew, maybe to the show, but it is possible the crew insisted in two pilots due to lower workload, being worked up as a team, etc.

Furthermore it could be (mind: speculation) the two cockpits are not identical, so some things can only be operated in one of the cockpits, other things only from the other cockpit, making it an aircraft that can't be operated by a single pilot. Just like the western Phantom or Tornado. BTW I recall RIAT '97 when a two-seater Flanker was also flown by two persons.

[CDN Aviator]

For those wondering, the US Navy Super Hornet Demo team flies an F/A-18F with a crew of two on its airshow demo flights. Same with the USAF F-15E Strike eagle demo. USAF F-15Ds were flying for this year's Abbotsford airshow in canada and both machines had 2 crewmember on board.

It is not uncomon......

[k_z]

I saw the crash at Radom happening, and after realising both pilots tragically died, I wondered why they are using a two-seater, with two pilots on board (most demoteams which use two-seaters, only fly with one pilot) for a risky business like demo flying. Does anyone know why these SU-27UB's are flying these demo's with two pilots? As most of you know, the crash in Lviv was flown with 2 pilots, and I thought the Russian Knights crash of 2 weeks ago also involved a 2-seater with two pilots.


regards,

MIchel

Polish AF Mig-29 demo and US Navy Superhornet are both flying two-seaters with both pilots (in case of Superhornet - WSO). Why - no idea...

[Zdun]

RIP



Piotr Zdunek.