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