Russian Navy’s Su-33 carrier-based multi-role aircraft has crashed during flight operations from Admiral Kuznetsov Saturday.
According to the report, the combat plane crashed at its second attempt to land on the aircraft carrier in good weather conditions (visibility +10 kilometers, Sea State 4, wind at 12 knots): it seems that it missed the wires and failed to go around falling short of the bow of the warship, unnamed military sources were quoted as saying by The Aviationist Monday.
The pilot successfully ejected and was picked up by a Russian Navy search and rescue helicopter.
Considered that on Nov. 14 a MiG-29K crashed while recovering to the aircraft carrier, if confirmed this would be the second loss for the air wing embarked on Admiral Kuznetsov in less than three weeks and a significant blow for the Russian Naval Aviation during its combat deployment off Syria.