1989. "The Headless Horseman" over Europe

Police arrived a long time could not understand. Where in a 15-kilometers from the Belgian-French border, which separates from the Soviet Union more than 1,000 kilometers and half of Europe could take a plane with red stars on the wings? Yes, and without a pilot, as a fighter wreckage found no other bodies, except for the unfortunate body Wim de Lara.
A pilot there and could not be - he catapulted over 900 kilometers away from the blast site, near the Polish city of Kolobrzeg on the Baltic Sea.
July 4, 1989 from the airfield one of aviation units of the Soviet Northern Group of Forces in the area of ​​Kolobrzeg was flown the MiG-23M, piloted by 1st Class Colonel Nikolai Skuridina (1700 total flight hours, including the MiG-23 - 527 hours ). Although it is a good touch, but was not Skuridin combatant pilot and head of the political 239 th Fighter Air Division (political officer in the Soviet Air Flight to maintain qualifications also had their own swoop certain number of hours).
It was his second flight that day and everything was going fine until a certain height, until the pilot heard cotton in the left inlet. Simultaneously with cotton plummeted speed of the aircraft and engine noise was gone. All this testifies to the engine is stopped and the pilot did as prescribed do in such cases instruction - he turned towards the sea fighter and ejected.



MiG-23M

Already in the air, dropping by parachute, Skuridina saw declining per turbine aircraft stretches black smoke. Above the sea Soviet fighter radars lost and taken off after it hooks a tow truck was found. Deciding that the plane crashed into the sea all calmed down and started writing reports.
And then something happened that later aviators call themselves a unique phenomenon: 6 seconds after the ejection of the pilot due to changes centering plane ceased to decline, and it began to increase engine speed. And MiG flight continued, gaining height in automatic mode (autopilot continued to work) is strictly at the specified rate.
System identification "I - my" too remain involved because the Service defense of Poland and East Germany reacted to the appearance on their radar Soviet aircraft safely and accompanied him to the moment when the MiG passed all East Germany did not come out on the border with Germany.



The route of flight without a pilot
Later, representatives of the West German defense will argue that spotted Soviet aircraft and led him to their very borders. However Bundeswehr fighters took off and tried to overtake the MiG when he crossed the Dutch border. And only a couple of American F-15 fighters, up from the Dutch base Soesterberg on his interception, caught a Soviet plane. Coming close to krasnozvёzdnoy car, American pilots it carefully reviewed and sent to the command post of the message: "In the cockpit there is no one." Order to bring down a strange car, no one dared to give - as the Soviet Union react to it is unknown (and perhaps in the USSR was very fond of this moment and start a war?) And also the flight had already passed over densely populated areas of the Netherlands and Belgium. And then NATO members decided not to do anything - maybe MiG expending fuel itself slowly make it to the English Channel and he voluntarily fall into the sea.
But he fell on his head tochnesenko poor Wim de Lara - unfortunately for him and fortunately for the great Moscow. The fact that on this day, July 4, 1989, the visit of Mikhail Gorbachev to France and take my MiG 15 more kilometers to the French territory, the scandal would have made an indescribable!
And the noise was hushed up. USSR has expressed condolences to the family of the deceased Belgian and quietly paid her 800,000 dollars compensation. "We barely escaped an incomprehensible disaster. It is hard to imagine what could happen, the plane dropped off at the industrial districts of Lille "- relieved the Minister of Internal Affairs of Belgium Lewis Tobbek tacit and expressed a desire to forget the story. Without exception, all the officials of the NATO countries that desire tacitly supported.
And forget. And about Mathias Rust landed his "Cessna" the Kremlin walls May 28, 1987, and heard almost all of the Soviet air defense for it is not abused just lazy, but that's about the flight "Headless Horseman" MiG-23M (hull number 29) July 4, 1989 year across Europe recall few, almost no one abuses in this regard, NATO's air defense.
But uncontrolled flight of MiG demonstrated that NATO air defense system was then, too, "not up to par." Indeed, after crossing the "Iron Curtain" MiG flight passed over West German, American and British groups of troops, their air defense systems and airfields with fighters. However, abort the flight of Soviet aircraft, NATO members and decided not to (or could not).



Source: oadam.livejournal.com