China Flanker Thread II

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L

Lion

Senior Member
plawolf said:
From these detailed pictures, it can be confirmed as a Su27UBK. Only Russian built Su27s and Su30s have been seen carrying the wingtip EW pods, and only Su27UBKs have the canted vertical tail tips.

It looks like the pilots stayed with the plane until the last possible moment and only punched out once they were sure the plane wasn't going to hit anyone on the ground, but by then it was too late. Had they been trying to save the plane, they would have not ejected.

These guys went above and beyond the call of duty and put their lives on the line to make sure innocents were not hurt by the doomed plane. I don't think anyone could have anything but praise and respect for their actions and mourn the loss of such brave and dedicated men.

The only thing I could think they might have done differently was for the rear seat pilot to punch out at a safe altitude. Only one pilot is needed to guide the plane down in a safe area, and since both pilots were very senior and experienced, either one of them could have done it on their own, so there was no point in them both putting themselves in harms way. You cannot eject the front seat without making life impossible for the rear seat pilot, so the front seat pilot had to stay, but there should have been no real impediment to the front seater if the rear seater punched out. There are many photos on the web with Tornados and even a Su27UBK flying perfectly fine with the rear seat having been ejected in flight. I guess loyalty made the rear seater stay, and it is a tragedy he paid such a steep price for it.
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I don't think there is such thing called one pilot eject and another will stay in thing for Su-27 UBK. The canopy is one piece, once its off, both pilot must eject.
 
L

Lion

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plawolf said:
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Wolf, I still think you are asking too much of the pilot. The canopy is off and you can imagine the large amount of strong airflow inside the cockpit with a plane probably losing engine power and difficult to control.
I think the decision to stay together was made by both pilot for the best of it.
If there is the need, I think the PLAAF pilot will make the intelligent decision called like the JH-7A crashed in Beijing with the co pilot ejecting first but unfortunately the front pilot probably decide to stay abit late to moved the plane to safety before eject which I believe is too late.

At least those stunt you mention is done with a full working plane.
 
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Quickie

Quickie

Colonel
I think the problem of strong airflow is not really an issue if the airplane can still be controlled to slow down to an airspeed where the pilots can still manage to fly the plane without the canopy. Under this optimal condition in the worst of situation, the rear pilot will have the option of whether to eject first leaving the front pilot to do the last maneouvres.

Another thing is it's probably time for the PLA to make a policy decision to only do training in remote unpopulated areas.
 
Air Force Brat

Air Force Brat

Brigadier
Super Moderator
Quickie said:
I think the problem of strong airflow is not really an issue if the airplane can still be controlled to slow down to an airspeed where the pilots can still manage to fly the plane without the canopy. Under this optimal condition in the worst of situation, the rear pilot will have the option of whether to eject first leaving the front pilot to do the last maneouvres.

Another thing is it's probably time for the PLA to make a policy decision to only do training in remote unpopulated areas.
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Actually these lads appear to have made the best of it, and from the position of the aircraft on this small spit of land, they almost pulled it off, they are nontheless heroes, and all pilots try to save the aircraft whenever possible. While I understand your concern quickie, I'm rather certain the PLA already does most of their training away from the public, but aircraft do need to be recovered to bases and sometimes those are located where people are. Brat

In the olden time, lots of Naval Aviators made landings and take-offs with the canopy slid back to expedite egress, before the advent of the ejection seat, so yes depending on the configuration and how much damage aircraft may be flown with out sections of the canopy, it is very dicey and windy, but has been done. Brat
 
asif iqbal

asif iqbal

Lieutenant General
Still seems strange, not only is the aircraft intact the cockpit and canopy are not destroyed and the aircraft is the right way up

Don't understand how they didn't manage to eject, it's as if it's just landed not upside down or anything
 
plawolf

plawolf

Lieutenant General
asif iqbal said:
Still seems strange, not only is the aircraft intact the cockpit and canopy are not destroyed and the aircraft is the right way up

Don't understand how they didn't manage to eject, it's as if it's just landed not upside down or anything
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Looking at the photos, the pilots did eject, but appears to have left it too late and did not survive the ejection process.

The big tragedy is that looking at the state of the aircraft, they probably would have walked away had they not ejected, but there was simply no way they could have known that, and ejection was the better call. It's just cruel how fate works sometimes.
 
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