Sudan MiG-29 shot down, Russian pilot dead

[MKopack]

May 30, 2008:The death of a Russian fighter pilot in Sudan could not be kept secret, despite the best efforts of the Russian and Sudanese governments. The pilot was an instructor, stationed outside Khartoum, at an air base containing the dozen MiG-29 fighters Sudan bought four years ago. The Russian pilot took one of the MiG-29s into action on May 10th, when a convoy of nearly 200 trucks and jeeps approached the capital. The convoy contained 1,200 JEM rebels from Darfur. The heavily armed rebels were headed for the presidential palace when the MiG-29 attacked. But the rebels had some heavy (12.7mm and 14.5mm machine-guns) on some of those trucks, and the MiG-29 was hit and went down. The pilot ejected, but the chute didn't open and he died on impact.   

The Sudanese government tried to keep the death, and loss of a Russian pilot, secret. At least one Sudanese radio station was shut down for broadcasting the "rumor." The story also got out in Russia, via the Internet and at least one independent radio station (the government controls all the network operations).  The death of the pilot was known to his family and some of his Russian Air Force friends.   

The JEM attack was halted, by Sudanese troops, before they could cross a river and reach the palace.

Other reports have the aircraft being lost to a SAM (likely a shoulder-fired heat seeker). While the Fulcrum is, at best a poor CAS or air-to-ground airframe, so the loss wouldn't be totally unexpected, more concerning is the reported failure of the Mig's escape system.

Mike

[MightyHunter]

The Soviet designing of AAES is second best to Martin Baker , saying that there seats I think the K series are lighter faster and on paper better than Martin Baker . but on same note maintenance and general upkeep let this pilot down .

Amazibng how much stuff going on in world and nobody is blinking an eye

[MKopack]

The Soviet designing of AAES is second best to Martin Baker , saying that there seats I think the K series are lighter faster and on paper better than Martin Baker . but on same note maintenance and general upkeep let this pilot down .

Amazibng how much stuff going on in world and nobody is blinking an eye

The Russian K seats have made some amazing, and very public, 'saves' over the years, and they would likely rank up there with both Martin Baker and the US ACES seats, but they are VERY heavy. Much heavier than a comparable Western seat. Without knowing more specifics about this incident (in, or out of the envelope ejection) it's difficult to make any judgements. There is always the possibility that maintenance (or the lack thereof in Sudan) may have played a part in the failure.

Possibly an even bigger question, is the fact that Russian pilots are flying combat missions over Sudan. Sudan is, without trying to get political here, involved in at least one controversial conflict, both inside its borders and spilling over into neighboring Chad. Russia has been very vocally against the possibility of the UN setting up a no-fly zone over the conflict area, I wonder if the known presence of Russian pilots had anything to do with that?

I know that there are some Mirage 2000 pilots who would just love to take that challenge.

Mike

[iluveagles]

Russian instructors/adviser's dieing? Korean, Vietnam anyone? My question is, why did he get shot down? Was he going in for a strafing pass or did he have any a-to-g weapons on board? I mean, I can see a low level strafing pass and the rebels getting a lucky shot with their machine guns, but otherwise the shoulder launched SAM, say an SA-7, or even an SA-9 that was mounted on a truck would make more sense...............the 29 is a pretty rugged aircraft after all............

[shawn a]

why do we just automatically believe the "died on impact" part of that? Perhaps the seat and 'chute worked, and there was a "summary execution" on impact.
I don't expect adherence to the Geneva Convention in that particular conflict. Like many other conflicts these days.
Shawn A.

[MightyHunter]

why do we just automatically believe the "died on impact" part of that? Perhaps the seat and 'chute worked, and there was a "summary execution" on impact.
I don't expect adherence to the Geneva Convention in that particular conflict. Like many other conflicts these days.
Shawn A.

Very valid point , without witness or proper accident report we will never know