MOSCOW, August 18. /TASS/. A MiG-29 plane has crashed during a planned flight in Russia’s Astrakhan Region, the pilot has died, the Southern Military District told reporters in a statement.

"On August 18, 2021, a MiG-29 plane crashed in the Astrakhan Region when conducting a planned flight. The plane fell in an empty place on the Ashuluk test range territory. The flight was carried out without the loadout. The pilot is dead," the statement reads.

"A commission of the Main Command of the [Russian] Aerospace Forces has been dispatched to the site to study what caused the crash," the district added.

MiG-29 is a twin-engine jet fighter aircraft, the first plane were procured to the army in 1983.