On 24 July 1993, at the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) air show at Fairford Air Base of the British Air Force, two MiG-29 fighters piloted by test pilots Sergei Tresvyatsky and Alexander Beschastanov of the Gromov LII collided while performing a double loop at low altitude.
As a result of the collision, Tresvyatsky’s aircraft lost its wing console, while Beschastanov’s fighter broke into two parts and caught fire. Both pilots managed to eject despite the extreme conditions and significant damage to their aircraft. According to a BBC announcer watching the flight, the pilots “jumped out from under the coffin lid”.
Fortunately, only one person on the ground suffered minor injuries and the parked aircraft suffered minimal damage.
The pilots’ survival was made possible by the perfect operation of the K-36DM chair developed at Zvezda. The chair provides safe ejection in a wide range of flight speeds and altitudes, including zero altitude and speed mode.
The K-36DM chair is equipped with a variety of systems and mechanisms that guarantee reliable fixation of the pilot, insertion of the protective deflector at high flight speeds, separation of the chair from the aircraft and insertion of the parachute. Reliability and efficiency of the K-36DM seat is confirmed by many years of operation on various types of domestic aircraft, such as MiG-29, Su-24, Su-27 family, Tu-160.
The Zvezda product saved the lives of not only Sergei Tresvyatsky and Alexander Beschastanov, but also Anatoly Kvochur, as well as Vyacheslav Averyanov and navigator Vladimir Shendrik.
On 8 June 1989 at the Le Bourget International Airshow, during a aerobatics demonstration, a bird hit one of the MiG-29 engines of test pilot Anatoly Kvochur. As a result, the aircraft rolled onto its side and went into a vertical dive. Kvochur continued piloting, trying to steer the aircraft away from the crowd of spectators. Three seconds before the plane hit the ground, the pilot ejected, with the cockpit facing the ground. Anatoly Kvochur survived with only minor bruises thanks to the gyrostabilisation system of the seat.
On 12 June 1999, while training a set of aerobatics at Le Bourget, a Su-30MKI fighter jet hit the ground with its tail section and burst into flames. At an altitude of about 50 metres, both pilots – crew commander Vyacheslav Averyanov and navigator Vladimir Shendrik – successfully ejected.
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