Just returned from what was supposed to be a wonderful day, seeing the Russian Knights final trainings for MAKS. As some of you may already know it turned into a tragic accident.
After the Russian Knights made their final split, the leader Igory Tkachenko, together with the slot Igor Shpak, made a right turn completing the loop exiting the area for the Swifts to take over.
The moment the Swifts completed their first loop, I noticed a small dark cloud in the air of where the two Su-27's flew away. Then I saw one of the two Su-27's in a rolling dive just above the tree line...
After moments of disbelief my fear came true... a dark cloud appeared at the horizon...
May Igory Tkachenko rest in peace...
Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 11:55 am
by Lawndart
Sad news! R.I.P.
@Frazer, so you actually saw this close-up? Must have been an eerie feeling!
Very sad news Frazer. My thoughts go out to Igory Tkachenko's family and friends...
Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 5:18 pm
by Ells
Extremely sad news, our respects to all that knew him.
And to you Frazer for having to see it happen.
Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 6:54 pm
by Teej
.
(moment of silence)
Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 3:23 am
by kerdougan
RIP
Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 6:59 am
by Frazer
After hearing multiple speculations of how this accident happened we can be 95% sure the following was the case.
After the final split, the leading aircraft (nr.18 ) together with slot (nr.01) flew east for rejoin and head back to Kubinka, Russian Knights home base. The left wing, Vitaly V. Melnik (nr.14, also flying east after split) was the first jet to rejoin the formation.
This rejoin is what went wrong. Left wing, sliding in from a higher altitude, miscalculated the leaders airspeed and overshot the formation. During overshooting, Vitaly V. Melnik probably lost visual and hit the leading aircraft with the engines. The nose of the leading aircraft was severely damaged.
The leading aircraft was a double seater. In the front seat flew Commander Igor Tkachenko and in the backseat, navigator Igor Antonovich Kurilenko. Kurilenko immediately ejected after the collision initiating both front and back seat ejection sequence.
Horrifying is that Tkachenko's parachute cought fire during the eject. Though, looking closely at the pictures we can assume that Igor Tkachenko was already dead from the impact.
The engines of left wing, nr.14 cought fire and Vitaly V. Melnik ejected a few moments later.
I did not see the collision close up.
At the moment of the accident the Swifts were flying a diamond loop so all eyes were focussed on that. After the loop I scanned the horizon to see what is going to be next.... and then I found the dark cloud in the sky. First I thought it would be some smoke from the engines but then I saw one jet rolling towards the ground.
That is indeed an eerie feeling, I had a crob in my throat (it was hard to speak) and I was full of disbelief...
Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 8:59 am
by Sawamura
After the 4-ship loop of the Swifts, I tried to look for where the Su-27 would approach to prepare the next manuever. Since I didnt have binoculars nor a photo lens, I did see a small dot above the trees, which was droping down dramatically. At the moment the dot dissappeared, I felt very weird. I didn't want to believe that this could have been one of the Russian Knights, that was just about to crash into a field, street or maybe a village or town. When the smoke became visible for us, the impossible came true. It were horrible for hours not knowing if the pilot(s) survived or not, if the plane crashed into a house or not. All we could do was to listen to the russian coms (radio) between the fourth plane, which was circling around the crash site, the rescue helicopters and the ATC.
Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 11:52 am
by Lawndart
"There's a second version that a bird flew into one of the engines"... hmmm?
Also, gotta enjoy the media when they say: "The Russian Knights might cancel their performance at MAKS this year to remember the death of their Commander"...
(Sounds politically correct, but the sad part is they don't have a leader, hence no one qualified to fly the show anymore).
RIP
