Russian air show opens despite crash

MOSCOW, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- Russia's premier air show has kicked off with record deals, but its first day was overshadowed by a deadly crash involving two Russian fighter jets.

One pilot died and four were seriously injured when two Sukhoi Su-27 jets collided on Aug. 16 during an aerobatics practice ahead of the annual air show, where they were due to fly as the Russian Knights.

Two of the three pilots managed to eject from their planes before the collision, with one of them seriously injured after falling into a tree. RIA Novosti said one jet crashed into a building near Moscow, injuring three people on the ground.

The Moscow Times reports the pilot killed, Igor Tkachenko, had expressed concern about the safety of the Su-27 in a 2005 interview.

"I've flown the aircraft and would not put another pilot behind the wheel. It's not safe," Tkachenko told the defense journal Independent Military Review on June 3, 2005, the newspaper says.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin opened on schedule the biannual MAKS air show, the country's largest and most important exhibition in the aerospace industry.

The Kremlin aims to make MAKS into one of the world's most important fairs, but Putin nevertheless opened it with a warning to Russian aerospace companies that Moscow wouldn't necessarily bail them out.

"I would like to warn you against the illusion that the state will cover losses and correct management's mistakes," Putin told a meeting of industry managers and government officials at the MAKS aerospace fair near Moscow, Forbes reported.

In more pleasant news for the industry, Putin also announced a flurry of deals with Russian plane makers.

For a record $2.5 billion, the Kremlin will order from state-controlled Sukhoi 48 Su-35S strike fighters from 2010 to 2015; 12 Su-27SM jet fighters from 2009 to 2011; and four twin-engine Su-30M2 fighters by 2011.

Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Popovkin and Sukhoi Chief Executive Officer Mikhail Pogosyan signed the deal, which gives Sukhoi a much-needed financial shot in the arm: The Russian plane maker has been in money trouble and is also relying on cash from Vnesheconombank, Russia's bailout bank, to finance its investments and the development of the Su-35, a highly maneuverable, multifunctional generation 4.5 fighter jet that the company hopes will dominate the domestic and Asian markets.