A Soviet test pilot ejected two seconds before the crash of his MiG-29 (2019)

If you like close calls, here&#x27;s another last second ejection [1]. This one is an F-16 from the US Air Force&#x27;s &quot;Thunderbirds&quot; demonstration squadron. Ejection was initiated 0.8 seconds before impact.<p>The cause of this was an error by the pilot when setting up for the show. He got the altitude of the airport wrong, thinking it was about 800 ft (~240 m) lower than it really was.<p>Here&#x27;s a video, showing both inside and outside views [2].<p>[1] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ejectionsite.com&#x2F;thunderbird6.htm" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ejectionsite.com&#x2F;thunderbird6.htm</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=alo_XWCqNUQ" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=alo_XWCqNUQ</a>

&gt; Kvochur immediately selected full afterburner for the good engine, but at only 180 km&#x2F;h (111 mph) he had insufficient rudder and aileron authority to counter the thrust asymmetry and the result was inevitably an irrecoverable departure.<p>Multi-engine aircraft have a known minimal control speed, below the speed you cannot maintain directional control in case of an engine failure with full power from the other engine.<p>The theory is that you can only be below that during the takeoff roll and in case of a problem you have to abort the takeoff (close both throttles) to maintain control.<p>I&#x27;ve never flown military jets, but I expect they have this same concept. Then going full afterburner while below minimum control speed is what put him in an uncontrollable roll.

A friend of mine in the 90s was there as an F-16 test pilot and saw the accident. He said this sort of problem is a well known risk of being a test pilot so they spend a lot of time on planning how to deal with something bad. He also said they usually left much more daring things to safer places and preferred to keep the air show maneuvers less risky since crashes are not a good marketing plan.

Ukrainian pilots ejected after they hit the ground at an airshow: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=ZL697AGVDoM" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=ZL697AGVDoM</a><p>EDIT: Not trying to inflame tensions, just saying there are even crazier &quot;last second&quot; ejections on video

For some context, the pilot was Anatoly Kvochur[0], who was, for my understanding, one of the best Russian test pilot.<p>[0]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Anatoly_Kvochur" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Anatoly_Kvochur</a>

Can’t access this page on mobile, seems to go into an infinite refresh loop.

I remember an Air Force training video (from youtube, not my professional career sadly) encouraging pilots to eject sooner rather than later. You don&#x27;t want to be cooked by the fireball of your own jet, after all.

Seems to me that the big news from this air show wasn&#x27;t the crash, but the MiG&#x27;s IR tracking sensor. It led to a lot of speculation about Soviet countermeasures for stealth aircraft.

This is impressive, but the loud music over the video&#x27;s commentator was very frustrating. Still, amazing to see the pilot&#x27;s quick reaction in milliseconds.

A similar accident for the B2 - pilots ejected mere seconds before impact AFTER their wing was already scratching ground<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;2008_Andersen_Air_Force_Base_B-2_accident" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;2008_Andersen_Air_Force_Base_B...</a>

Nerves of steel.

Title makes it sound like this happened 3 years ago. This accident is from 1989.

cause of accident was bird strike, the plane was already mere feet from the ground when the engine failed.