Honored Military Pilot of the USSR Shared His Version of the Tragedy near Baranavichy

What caused the death of the crew of the Yak-130?

The cause of the death of the crew of the Yak-130 aircraft near Baranavichy could have been a low-altitude ejection, while the aircraft could be with a large roll or in an inverted position.

Kamil Makhmudov, chairman of the primary organization of the Belarusian Union of Air Force Officers and Air Defense Forces, Honored Military Pilot of the USSR, told the Minsk-Novosti news agency that, in addition, the aircraft may have dived with high vertical speed.

According to the retired major general of aviation, the ejection vector could be directed horizontally or vertically downward, or the plane began to dive sharply, and then the pilots might not have enough height to rescue.

- The Yak-130 aircraft is a new, modern, very reliable aircraft, - said Kamil Akhmedovich. - But this is a machine, and, like any other, it can fail. I am sure that the pilots are not to blame for what happened. They, apparently, reported that there was a technical malfunction, respectively, and were forced to eject. But before that, the guys turned away from the settlement, they acted heroically, as the Hero of Belarus Uladzimir Karvat did in his time.

When asked if the aviator himself ever had to eject, he answered the following:

- Several times I watched in ostentatious classes how test pilots tested the ejection system on a dummy during takeoff, and I didn't have to do it myself. Skills on the ground were practiced to the point of automatism. The standards are strict: if you do not meet the time limit, train further. Here the movements of the pilot are thought out to the second. After all, if, for example, there was a fire, an explosion is possible. And if nothing else can be done, you need to eject immediately. The decision to do this is made independently or at the command of the flight manager from the ground, who sees the flaming car.

- A crash in which pilots die is always a tragic event in aviation. We condole and worry about what happened, - summed up K. Makhmudov.