Just six days after a Russian SU-34 fighter jet crashed near the border with Ukraine, Moscow’s air force has lost another fighter jet. This time, a model SU-30 crashed into a building in Irkutsk, the hometown of aircraft manufacturer Sukhoi in southern Siberia.
However, the circumstances are puzzling. Video recordings show how the model falls almost vertically from the sky, and the two pilots do not release the ejection seats, as the crew did in the crash almost a week ago.
According to the security authorities, the two pilots died in the most recent crash, so there were no casualties among the civilian population. However, last Monday’s accident killed 15 people and injured another 25, while the crew survived.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the cause of the crash almost a week ago was a technical defect. An engine allegedly caught fire shortly after take-off. But the most recent crash probably has other causes.
According to reports in social networks and, for example, the Russian news website Pravda, the two pilots may have suffocated during the flight and therefore died before the crash. However, no official source is mentioned.
Air traffic control lost contact with the crew shortly after the plane took off at 5:47 p.m. local time. A second SU-30 jet climbed up and saw the unconscious crew in the cockpit while the plane was losing altitude. According to official information, the plane was on a test flight and had no weapons on board. Whether it was a flight immediately after repair work at the aircraft manufacturer is not yet known.
In the aviation industry, there are repeated warnings against speculating too quickly about the causes of crashes. But the fact is that lack of oxygen is a deadly danger for pilots. Experts speak of hypoxia.
This danger not only threatens pilots in civil aircraft, but also in military aircraft, including US fighter jet pilots, even with the new F-35 model. After several incidents, part of the F-35 fleet was temporarily shut down in 2017 and the technology was revised. A number of incidents also occurred between 2008 and 2012 with the US top model F-22.
The latest crash marks the 11th time Russia has lost a fighter jet and it was not due to combat operations since the Ukraine raid. The causes are probably varied. In the industry there is talk of insufficient maintenance, a lack of spare parts due to Western sanctions and less and less experienced pilots – also because many pilots die in the war.
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