Less than month after a Russian Navy Mig-29 crashed while attempting to land on their only aircraft carrier the Admiral Kuznetsov, a second Russian carrier based fighter jet has been lost.
The Sukhoi Su-33 was returning from a mission in Syria when it apparently encountered a problem with the ships arresting cable system.
The Russian Defense Ministry released a statement reported by Russian news agencies that “because of the failure of the arrester system’s cable, the Su-33 fighter rolled off the deck” on Monday.
The pilot of the aircraft successfully ejected and was unharmed in the incident. The ministry added that Russian military operations over Syria will not be affected by the incident. – AP
Prior Crash:
Back in mid November a Russian Mig 29 crashed into the Mediterranean Sea approximately two miles short of the same aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov after returning from Syria.
Citing the Russian Defense Ministry, Tass said the pilot of the MIG 29 ejected a few kilometers from the carrier and was recovered safely. Russian state media outlet Sputnik quoted a Defense Ministry statement blaming the accident on a technical problem. – CNN
The Sukhoi Su-33 is a twin engine all weather carrier based air superiority fighter aircraft that has been in service since 1998. A derivative of the Su-27 Flanker, approximately 35 of the aircraft were produced by the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Production Association which located in Russian Far East.
Photo of Su-33 Cockpit Courtesy of Vitaly V. Kuzmin (vitalykuzmin.net) CC BY-SA 4.0 or CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Featured Image Courtesy of Kremlin.ru By 3.0 or CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons