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Bird strike or technical breakdown possible causes of MiG-29 crash — source

The Mikoyan MiG-29 crashed on Friday near the Kushchyovskaya airfield in the Krasnodar Territory in southern Russia in a thinly populated area, the pilot ejected and has already been evacuated
Mikoyan MiG-29 fighter jet ITAR-TASS / Dmitry Rogulin
Mikoyan MiG-29 fighter jet
© ITAR-TASS / Dmitry Rogulin

MOSCOW, July 3. /TASS/. Bird ingestion into an engine and technical breakdown are considered as two preliminary possible causes for the crash of a MiG-29 fighter earlier Friday in south Russia’s Krasnodar Territory, a source in the Main Headquarters of Russia’s Air Force told TASS.

The Mikoyan MiG-29 (NATO reporting name: Fulcrum) crashed on Friday near the Kushchyovskaya airfield in the Krasnodar Territory in southern Russia in a thinly populated area, the pilot ejected and has already been evacuated, his life is out of danger, the Defence Ministry said earlier.

Flights of Russian MiG-29 fighters have been suspended until the causes of the crash of such a jet in south Russia have been clarified, the Russian Defenсe Ministry informed.

"The Air Force commander-in-chief has decided to suspend flights of MiG-29 jets until the causes of the crash are clarified. A commission of the Russian Federation’s Defense Ministry is heading for the accident site to investigate the causes of the crash," the ministry said.

The ministry said the crash occurred during a practice flight carried out without the ammunition set. It said the possible cause of the crash could be the breakdown of one of the engines.

This is the second MiG-29 fighter that crashes in Russia since the start of this summer. In early June, a fighter of the same type with two pilots who managed to eject crashed near the Ashuluk range in the Astrakhan Region in south Russia.