MOSCOW, Dec. 6 (UPI) — A Russian fighter plane crashed while attempting to land on a Russan aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean Sea, the Russian Defense Ministry reported Monday.
The pilot ejected and survived after his Sukhoi-33 plane, returning from a mission over Syria on Saturday, overran the runway on the carrier Admiral Kuznetsov on its second attempt to land. The Defense Ministry said the arresting cable, a thick wire crossing the runway that attaches to an arriving plane to slow it, snapped.
The pilot was rescued from the Mediterranean Sea, where the aircraft carrier is stationed, by a Russian Navy search-and-recover helicopter.
The incident was the second crash on Russia’s only aircraft carrier in three weeks. A Mikoyan MiG-29K fighter plane crashed Nov. 13 as it attempted to land on the Admiral Kuznetsov. Its first pass broke the arresting cable, and while repairs to the cable were being made, the plane ran out of fuel and fell into the Mediterranean Sea. The pilot safely ejected from the plane.
