MiG-29K crashed

[beingthehero]

https://theaviationist.com/2016/11/14/russian-mig-29k-from-adm-kuznetsov-aircraft-carrier-has-crashed-in-mediterranean-sea/

 

I think this what its combat debut. All in all, probably not a very good one. I know the rash of crashes of MiG-29As and Cs in 2008 were caused by poor maintenance and corrosion of the vertical stabilizers but I wonder what would cause a brand new K to crash.

[kotey]

All, what we know now- it was untypical failure for type MiG-29, pilot were saved from water, aircraft sinked in big deep. Pilot alive, it is main, what we neet to know.

Edited November 14, 2016 by kotey

[Raceaddict]

I wish articles would be a little more precise... the Mig-29KUBR is a two-seater, but the article linked above says "The pilot of the doomed aircraft ejected safely and was rescued by a helicopter"...

[82Whitey51]

Naval aviatin' ain't eazy.

 

Glad the crew is safe.

Edited November 14, 2016 by 82Whitey51

[Linden Hill]

Ru MoD confirms loss of MiG-29KR (single-seater), not KUBR. Cause? See above. Landing on and taking off from a faux carrier deck on dry land at Yeysk in the summer isn't the same as doing it in the choppy eastern Med in mid-November.

[Berkut]

1 hour ago, Linden Hill said:

Ru MoD confirms loss of MiG-29KR (single-seater), not KUBR. Cause? See above. Landing on and taking off from a faux carrier deck on dry land at Yeysk in the summer isn't the same as doing it in the choppy eastern Med in mid-November.

You seem to be questioning pilots professionalism based on extremely few facts as of now? As of now all we know is that it was a technical issue (not a pilot error) and it happened during landing few km away from Kuznetsov. The MiG-29K pilot has likely previously flown Su-33's and i would place a fairly safe bet that Barents Sea is more choppy than eastern Mediterranean.

[marcinko]

I doubt you`ll see this type of bobbing in the Mediterranean, around the one minute mark

 

 

[Linden Hill]

Not questioning professionalism at all. That doesn't detract from Whitey's general point that Naval Aviation isn't easy and you need to keep your eye in to stay safe. If I'm not mistaken the MiG-29KR which crashed was one of only three on board and this was the first deployment. How much flying has the MiG-29KR done in the Barents or Norwegian Seas? 

[Berkut]

1 hour ago, Linden Hill said:

Not questioning professionalism at all. That doesn't detract from Whitey's general point that Naval Aviation isn't easy and you need to keep your eye in to stay safe. If I'm not mistaken the MiG-29KR which crashed was one of only three on board and this was the first deployment. How much flying has the MiG-29KR done in the Barents or Norwegian Seas? 

There were 2 MiG-29KUBR's and 2 KR's on board. MiG-29K/KUB's have done plenty of flying Barents sea, but not KR/KUBR's in specific.

[11bee]

1 hour ago, marcinko said:

I doubt you`ll see this type of bobbing in the Mediterranean, around the one minute mark

 

Not sure I follow... didn't seem to be that bad.   What I did note (in this and other videos out there) is the very leisurely pace on these carriers.   Not to get into a "USA is Number 1 mode" but most (all?) of the videos I've seen show nearly empty decks, long durations between launches, even longer durations between landings (assuming there is even more than one aircraft airborne at the same time).   Nearly all of the videos are filmed in good weather conditions, in daylight.     It just is worth comparing to how the US conducts carrier ops.    All weather conditions, rapid launch sequences, usually with dozens of aircraft involved and 90 second intervals on traps.  

 

All that being said, the loss of a single MiG isn't that noteworthy.  As Whitey mentioned carrier aviation is dangerous work and the USN has the loss rate to prove it.  Glad the pilot made it out ok. 

 

OT but I'm to lazy to post separately - China just had a loss today as well. Mid-air while practicing an aerobatic routine, she ejected and was then hit by another aircraft in the formation. 

 

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/14/asia/china-woman-fighter-pilot-killed/index.html

 

 

Edited November 14, 2016 by 11bee

[Berkut]

On weather subject, not flight ops, obviously, but still..

 

 

[11bee]

i'll match you.    No flight ops on this date but I'm guessing that H-60 might have gone airborne if it wasn't chained down.

 

 

Edited November 15, 2016 by 11bee

[TaiidanTomcat]

8 hours ago, 82Whitey51 said:

Naval aviatin' ain't eazy.

 

Glad the crew is safe.

 

 

This

[kotey]

It was failure durung preparint to landing (or decking in this case), pilot is one of most scilled.

In russian aviation forums another one theme is more intresting:

http://forums.airforce.ru/attachments/sovremennost/75525d1479155104-img_0708.jpg/

[Berkut]

It is in all likely hood a fake Andrey, from the source of the picture;

 

+ It of course makes no sense to deploy MiG-31 to Syria. Yet alone a non BM/BSM one. (can see large pylons)

 

[beingthehero]

If RuAF did deploy any MiG-31s to Syria, it'd be because they wanted to make sure there were no interference by Turkey/US. Still, I think that's why they have the Su-35S and Su-30SM deployed there already. :shrug:

[kotey]

Will see, it can be Naval Aviation MiG-31s for cover up Kuznetsov ships order from sea side. And anyway - other one expiriences exersise for pilots.

[Berkut]

Check out this choppy eastern Med in mid-November sea... They all must be wishing they were at Barents sea right now. :P

 

 

[Linden Hill]

Have you ever read Homer's Odyssey? ;-)

[kotey]

About weather - in this video you can see now - good conditions:

http://ren.tv/novosti/2016-11-15/korrespondent-ren-tv-na-palube-admirala-kuznecova-pokazal-kak-rossiyskie-voennye

[Linden Hill]

If I understand this article correctly, the MiG-29KR ran out of fuel and crashed into the sea after a cable break on the Kuznetzov, whose deck repair took too long. 

 

https://www.gazeta.ru/army/2016/11/21/10354847.shtml

[kotey]

Guy, Gazeta.ru is not super informed source, this article is mix of rumors and conjectures,

[Berkut]

4 hours ago, Linden Hill said:

If I understand this article correctly, the MiG-29KR ran out of fuel and crashed into the sea after a cable break on the Kuznetzov, whose deck repair took too long. 

 

https://www.gazeta.ru/army/2016/11/21/10354847.shtml

Even ignoring whether that source is correct or not; that is a terribly inaccurate summarization of events outlined in the article. To recap;

 

There were three MiG-29K/KUB's in the air. First landed fine. Second one landed, broke a cable which tangled itself with another cable but caught the fourth reserve cable stopping in time. It took some some untangle it and the third MiG-29K was told to do another go around. While it was doing that, fuel supply all of the sudden shut off to the engines which obviously forced the pilot to eject. At no point was it stated in the article that it ran out of fuel or that the repair "took too long". Same problem could have happened regardless whether it took 5 min or 25 min to fix the cable issue.

 

There can be a million things that could have led to fuel randomly stopping flowing to the engines. That it ran out of fuel is just a conclusion you jumped to ignoring other possibilities.

[Linden Hill]

Fair point, Berkut, but I did offer the caveat that I may not have understood the article correctly, After all, this is a discussion forum!

 

I hesitate to post this, as the information is another 'reliable source' but here goes:

 

 

Any thoughts?

[Berkut]

One has to be careful with what random people say on the internet of course, but it simply running out of fuel would explain how they were able to go back to flying as quick as they did. Or that there were no stand-down order on KR/KUBR flights.

 

A well known russian military blogger known as bmpd is also claiming he has a source telling him that it ran out of fuel because the situation at the deck was a "clusterf***"; http://bmpd.livejournal.com/2273357.html

 

Assuming bmpd's source is not the same as that forum guy - two separate sources claiming the same is very convincing.