Dramatic video shows Russian pilot eject from fighter moments before it explodes
Dramatic first-person video captures the moment a Russian fighter pilot ejects himself from his plane — just seconds before the aircraft explodes in a huge fireball.
The point-of-view clip, posted to the Russian Fighterbomber Telegram channel Sunday, starts inside the Sukhoi Su-25SM fighter jet, looking out the windshield.
The pilot then jumps from the aircraft and his parachute is seen deploying before the single-seat jet slams into the ground and explodes.
He is heard grunting as he lands in deep vegetation a short distance from the wreckage.
“This is probably the first ever action camera combat jet ejection footage,” Rome-based aviation blogger David Cenciotti wrote on his The Aviationist website.
About a minute later, the pilot is heard speaking on a radio.
It was unclear when and where the crash happened, and whether the jet had been struck by Ukrainian forces.
The incredible clip also was shared on Twitter by military analyst Rob Lee, who described it as “crazy helmet camera footage.”
The footage emerged after two Russian pilots were killed when their jet crashed into a Siberian home on Sunday.
In a Telegram post, the Russian region’s governor Igor Kobzev said the plane – a Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jet said to be on a test flight — slammed into the building, where two families were housed, in the city of Irkutsk.
Kobzev also shared video showing firefighters climbing over the wreckage and pouring jets of water over the rubble.
Last Monday, a Sukhoi Su-34 crashed into an apartment block in the southern Russian city of Yeysk, near Ukraine, killing at least 15 people and injuring 19. The cause was a technical malfunction, authorities said after an initial investigation.