Russia resumes Su-24 flights after 10-day suspension

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Russia resumes Su-24 flights after 10-day suspension

29/06/2009

MOSCOW, June 29 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Air Force has resumed Su-24 Fencer attack aircraft flights after a 10-day suspension following two crashes in mid-June, a Defense Ministry official said on Monday.

The Su-24 is a two-seat, twin-engine fighter-bomber similar to NATO's Tornado and Mirage 2000 planes.

"The Air Force commander issued an order on Monday to resume Su-24 flights, which had been halted after two consecutive crashes of these aircraft," the official said.

A Su-24 plane crashed on June 19 in the Rostov region of southern Russia, with both pilots ejecting safely. Another Su-24 aircraft crashed on June 17 on a runway as it landed at an airfield in the Murmansk region in the far northwest, but both pilots also ejected safely.

Pilot error has been identified as the cause of the June 17 crash, while the June 19 accident probably resulted from a failure in the Su-24 wing positioning system, a flight safety official said on Monday.

"The cause of the Su-24's crash has been established. It was a pilot error made during the landing," Lt. Gen. Sergei Bainetov said adding that the investigation into the Su-24 crash in the Rostov region continued.

Ten pilots have died in the last decade in 13 Su-24 aircraft crashes in Russia.

The plane has been in service with the Russian Air Force since the mid-1970s. However, in recent years Russia has gradually been phasing out the planes, which have a patchy safety record.

According to the Defense Ministry, the Su-24 will be gradually replaced with new Su-34 Fullback strike aircraft, which has the potential to become the top plane in its class for years to come.

Source: http://en.rian.ru/mlitary_news/20090629/155382658.html