General (r) Stefan Danila, ex MIG 21 LanceR pilot: MIG supersonic pilots have a lot of reflexes, but catapulting is not one

[ Romanian Version HERE ]

“Catapulting is the hope that we all hang on! Less in the case of the supersonic pilots. They know time was running. Half second in which you are not interested anymore about what is happening with the plane. You cannot just believe that the wings betrayed you or that the engine is not helping anymore. At low altitude everything is reflex. And MIG pilots have a lot of reflexes, but catapulting is not one of these (…). Pilots, especially the hunting ones, will always want to fly to the limits! They will try to break them and be better! And nothing will stop them. Unfortunately, the flight rules were, most of them, wrote with blood!” said general Danila, talking about the air force accident from the 86 Borcea Air Base, where a MIG 29 LanceR crashed during an airshow.

He said that this catastrophe, that “paralyzed the whole Romanian air force” reminds of the “shocking collapse “of a 52 IAK, a hundred meters away from the public, at an airshow in Bacau, in 1995.

“Since then, the airshows pleased the public, the pilots showing their mastery each year, in different places of the country. The most famous and complex were the ones organized at the Air Force Basis. Year by year, more spectacular progresses made us believe that we can do more, we can show more!  Better prepared, the airshow demonstrations closed with applauds, with hangar party, photos and movies safely kept or made publicly. For 7th of July, 86 Air Base prepared an airshow for the air force passionate. Each demonstration was rehearsed, they made common trainings, with professional briefs and debriefs. The technical personal prepared the airships, the pilots prepared the flight missions, the parachutists the jumps and the parachutes, the whole personal of the base participated at preparing of the way in’s, of the apron of the techniques and the visitors”, said general Danila.

The show was on the level of the preparations, but no one knew how this will end:” an evolution at low altitude, a tight bend for passing to a vertical angle. Smoke, flames, explosion. For a few seconds, I am sure the ones who were there forget how to breath.”

General Danila said that all the parts of the plane will be collected and analyzed to identify the causes of the air catastrophe.

“All the parts of the plane will be collected after the ashes of the one who flew and never came back were carefully and in pain recovered. We will have days and night of investigations, analysis, until the most probable causes of the catastrophe will be identified. There will be analysis on every side of the plane, on the recordings (unfortunately the video ones are probably destroyed), the flight conditions, the airflow, the presence of birds. There’s only one thing left: a pilot, a husband, a father that is no longer with us”, also said for the Security and Defence Monitor and MEDIAFAX, general (r) Stefan Danila, ex Chief of General Staff of the Romanian Army Forces and ex pilot of MIG 21 LanceR.