It has been a bad weekend for military aviation aviation.
Two Belarussian pilots killed at Polish air show
RADOM, Poland (Reuters) – Two Belarussian Air Force pilots were killed on Sunday when their SU-27 fighter plane crashed during an aerial acrobatics display at an air show in central Poland, police said.“The two pilots did not manage to catapult to safety and were killed in the crash but there were no other casualties,” police spokeswoman Agnieszka Humelusz in Radom, a city about 100 km (62 miles) south of Warsaw, told Reuters.
Witness Leszek Kopec told Reuters by telephone: “The SU-27 crashed far beyond the spectator area minutes after begining its aerial performance.”
Poland’s news channels showed the large, heavy plane making three aerial revolutions and then levelling off as if about to land. It then disappeared from sight beyond a line of trees and exploded, sending up billows of thick, black smoke.
“The plane crashed about 100 metres (yards) from buildings in the village of Naleczyn on the outskirts of Radom,” TVN24 said.
Two pilots from Poland’s Zelazny Aerial Acrobatics Group were killed at the 2007 Radom show when their planes collided in midair during a performance.
Plane damaged while landing at Nellis AFB
A plane was damaged while landing at Nellis Air Force Base late Friday, causing the plane to catch fire and forcing its 32-member crew to escape.The E-3 Sentry warning and control system, also known as an AWACS, was being flown by the 552nd Air Control Wing out of Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma, according to a Nellis spokesman.
The crew was deployed to Nellis as part of the base’s Red Flag exercises and was returning from a mission when the incident occurred. Officials did not say how the aircraft was damaged.
Emergency crews at the base quickly extinguished the flames and the plane was evacuated safely.
Investigators have not determined the cause of the accident.
Link to E-3 Sentry landing accident
Condolences to the family and friends of the deceased. 🙁
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August 30, 2009 at 9:55 pm