Su-25 plane crashes in Belarus, pilot killed
MINSK. June 12 (Interfax) - A Sukhoi Su-25 close air support aircraft of the Belarusian Air Force and Air Defense Forces' 116th Assault Airbase crashed in the Grodno region on Tuesday, killing the pilot, the Belarusian Defense Ministry told Interfax.
"A Su-25 plane of the 116th Assault Airbase crashed near an air range during a planned flight on June 12," It said.
The flight was intended to practice piloting and navigation at low and extremely low altitudes, the ministry said. "Having completed the task, the plane started losing control at an altitude of 200 meters at about 3:35 p.m. local time," It said.
The flight supervisor ordered the pilot to eject. The pilot managed to turn the plane away from the village of Noviny in the Novogrudok district. "The plane fell two kilometers north of the said populated area. The pilot, Lt. Col. Nikolai Gennadyevich Gridnev, a military pilot of the 1st class, was killed," the ministry said.
The ministry has set up an ad hoc commission to investigate the accident, it said.
The Belarusian Air Force has seen a number of deadly accidents in the past several years.
A Sukhoi Su-27 from the 61st Fighter Airbase crashed killing two pilots during an air show in Radom, Poland, in August 2009.
A MiG-29 from the 61st Fighter Airbase crashed killing two pilots while on a planned flight in September 2010.
A Mi-24 helicopter crashed while landing at the Pruzhany airfield in the Brest region in November 2011. All the three crewmembers were killed.