A Russian aerial demonstration pilot died Thursday after his jet crashed during a training mission, according to a report.
The pilot, Maj. Sergei Yeremenko, went down with the jet after a technical malfunction. He was piloting a Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker, a Russian-made competitor to the U.S.-made F-15 Eagle and F-14 Tomcat. The flight demonstration team is known as the Russian Knights.
Yeremenko was returning to a base west of Moscow following a demonstration flight that marked the opening of a monument to airmen.
The Su-27 recently underwent factory repairs.
This deadly crash comes just one week after two U.S. military flight demonstration teams suffered crashes. A U.S. Navy Blue Angels F/A-18 crash killed Marine Capt. Kuss in Tennessee, and a U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds F-16 crashed after the U.S. Air Force Academy graduation. That pilot survived.
