Lithuanian special forces guard the wreckage of the Russian fighter jet. Judging by the warm clothing and the rations kit (lower left corner), the guard may last a while.
Posted on 09/16/2005 10:52:40 AM PDT by lizol
Russia Loses a Jet to NATO // Su-27 crashes in Lithuania Encroachment A scandal broke out yesterday when a Russian Su-27 fighter jet crashed in Lithuania on its way from Leningrad Region to Kaliningrad Region. The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry has presented Russian diplomats a note of protest about the violation of Lithuanian airspace. The fighter pilot, who bailed out of the plane, has been taken into custody and is the object of investigation. The Russian Defense Ministry claims that the pilot crossed the border because of a malfunction in his navigation equipment, which was also the cause of the crash. Catastrophe in the Field
The Su-27 crashed at 4:10 p.m. Moscow time in a field near the village of Jotyskiai, in Sakiai District, Lithuania. Residents of Veliouna, 55 km. north of Kaunas, saw a parachutist in the sky. That was Maj. Valery Troyanov, the plane's pilot. Local residents called the police while Troyanov called his division commander from his cell phone. He reported the situation and asked what to do further. The police arrived before that conversation had ended. Troyanov was taken to the police station in the town of Jurbarkas, where he was questioned by police and Lithuanian special services. Kommersant has information that representatives of the Russian embassy were not allowed to see him yesterday.
Commander of the Lithuanian Air Force Colonel Jonas Marcinkus stated yesterday that, after questioning, the pilot was immediately taken from Jurbarkas to Kaunas and examined by military doctors. Simultaneously, the Lithuanian prosecutor's office began an investigation of plane crash. Lithuanian Minister of Defense Gediminas Kirkilas stated yesterday that the Russian plane had no permission to enter Lithuanian airspace, and so its presence was illegal. He added that the air control service had been observing the plane for six minutes and German F-4Phantom fighters had been launched from the airbase in Zokniai.
The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry delivered a note of protest. An investigation was also begun to find out how the fighter jet made its way into Lithuanian airspace, which is protected by a NATO squadron from Germany. Russian pilots have violated Lithuanian airspace before. Last summer, for example, Lithuania announced that there had been an illegal flight by a helicopter, although it was unable to prove it, since the craft had been over the republic for only a few minutes. This time, Lithuanian officials have the violating pilot and the wreckage of his plane. But that will allow them to do no more than declare Russia's unfriendly intentions. The Russian side is claiming that the violation occurred because of an equipment malfunction.
Disoriented
The Russian version of the event is as follows. The Su-27s from the 177the Fighter Division took off from the Lodeinoe Pole Airfield heading to Chkalovsky Airfield near Kaliningrad. There, the pilots were to work out cooperation between the fighters of the 6th Army Air Force and Antiaircraft Defense (which has units in the Leningrad Military District) and the Air Force and Antiaircraft Defense of the Baltic Fleet in Kaliningrad Region. Their flight was to cross the Baltic Sea. However, as the information and public relations department of the Russian Defense Ministry reported yesterday, Troyanov, the last of the three pilots to take off (at ten-minute intervals) reported becoming disoriented. It is assumed that the plane's navigational equipment failed. Thus, the plane wandered into Lithuanian airspace. Kommersant sources in the Defense Ministry emphasize that, if the planes had flown in a group, the loss of orientation of one of them would not have affected the flight. The pilot of the malfunctioning craft would only have to maintain distance as he followed the others in the group in. However, when Troyanov's plane malfunctioned, the others had already landed.
After reporting his difficulties, Troyanov flew in circles to use up fuel and then parachuted from the craft.
Kommersant has learned that Russian Minister of Defense Sergey Ivanov was informed of the emergency in Lithuania while on his way to the General Naval Staff, where he was to take part in the ceremonial presentation of Admiral Vladimir Masorin, the new Chief Commander, to officers. A commission led by Maj. Gen. Sergey Bainetov, head of the Defense Ministry flight safety service, is now working in the Northern Fleet to determine the cause of a Su-33 fighter plane crash on the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov. Therefore, Ivanov ordered 6th Army commander Maj. Gen. Vladimir Sviridov to contact the Lithuanians and visit the scene of the accident. Kommersant has learned though that Sviridov was unable to enter Lithuanian yesterday for lack of a Lithuanian visa and went to Kaliningrad instead. A Defense Ministry source said last night that Troyanov had been released from custody. The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry said that Troyanov was released because he is considered only a witness in the criminal case connected with the plane crash.
Lithuanian special forces guard the wreckage of the Russian fighter jet. Judging by the warm clothing and the rations kit (lower left corner), the guard may last a while.
Wreckage of a Russian Su-27 fighter plane lies in a field about 55 km. from the Lithuanian city of Kaunas
Wreckage of a Russian Su-27 fighter plane lies in a field about 55 km. from the Lithuanian city of Kaunas.
A Russian Su-27 fighter jet
Russian Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov
They broke that one.
Can't make a jet, can't make a submarine (although they do make one hell of a fishing cable), can't even make a car. Methinks our coldwar enemy was not all we thought at the time.
Owl_Eagle
(If what I just wrote makes you sad or angry,
"After reporting his difficulties, Troyanov flew in circles to use up fuel and then parachuted from the craft."
Good man.
Holy F-15's Batman, where did that design come from? NATO intercept failure not a good thing. Germany still flying the F-4 Phantoms?
Do you say the same thing when our jets crash? Some of our jets have crashed you know. We've also lost submarines and the Corvair was a made-in-Detroit product.
All they had to make was some nukes and a way to deliver them. I believe based on their ability to put men in space that they had that capability. What has happened to the maintainance regime lately is another story.
Hey wait a min! I flew in the back seat of a Phantom.
I loved that bird. :-)
Oh, the Russians make really good fighters. The SU-27 is a top of the line fighter.
Did they ever figure out where the cable came from that stopped the sub? I was thinking it might have been a WWII anti-submarine net...........
Apparently he had a cell phone even if his regular communication system went out. It's hard to believe that not only he was lost but that his air force lost him. Surely they could have given him some instructions about which way to fly, other than down. Sounds as if more than his navigation system failed.
The gerries still like it for fast intercept. They like EuroFighter, too but pilots I talked with say they would keep the F4 for the right missions.
Not really, 2nd shelf now... Don't forget about the F-22
Who needs the Eurofighter!
Scuze me, but you might stray off course due to navigation failure but you would not CRASH due to nav problems unless you ran into the side of the mountain (which the pictures clearly show is not the case).
Of course the Nav equipment could have caused the crash if it triggered the self-destruct mechanism because it determined the pilot was defecting. The Russians wouldn't do that would they....? Naw...
me:/reaches for tinfoil hat.
Since when did the U.S. start supplying rations to the Lithuanian army?
I have an uncle that took part in some sort of exchange program with Russia in the later years of the Reagan administration. He said that he got a chance to fly some of the technology stripped MIG fighters but even stripped they were awesome planes. He was most impressed with the Russian pilots.
so sue us for the nav equipment you probably stole and did not replicate perfectly.
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