Ukraine military plane crash: Cadets among at 26 people killed

[Rogue Valley]

9/26/20
Twenty-six people, most of them air cadets, have been killed in a military plane crash in Ukraine, officials say. The aircraft, an Antonov-26, came down near the eastern city of Kharkiv. The plane was carrying 20 cadets and seven officers from Kharkiv Air Force University and was on a training flight. Only one person survived. The crash is being investigated. Officials say preliminary findings suggest the captain, not cadets, were flying the plane when it crashed. The plane came down about 2km (1.2 miles) from a military airport in the town of Chuhuiv, the emergency ministry said. Fire broke out at the site and was later extinguished. Declaring a day of mourning, President Volodymyr Zelensky said he wanted an "objective and unbiased" investigation carried out immediately into the crash.
"We have lost young cadets and experienced military servicemen who had their whole life ahead of them," he said. adding: "It is hard to choose the words to describe the pain of this loss."
His office said he had ordered a halt to all flights in similar planes until the cause of the crash had been established.

A tragic loss. RIP to all. The Ukraine Air Force headquarters is based in the city of Vinnytsia The Ukraine Air Force University near the city of Kharkiv is actually named The Ivan Kozhedub National Air Force University. I visited once. This is where pilots of military fighter jets, cargo aircraft, and helicopters are trained. One of the things I did notice about the Ukraine Air Force is that the fighter jet jockeys love to fly low. I mean real low, just above telephone pole height. It's not all that unusual in the countryside to see a UAF Su-27 scream by just overhead, so low you can see the pilot's face. I don't think that is what happened here though. The An-26 is a twin turboprop used for the fast transport of men or equipment.

Ukraine military plane crash: Cadets among 26 people killed

The aircraft, carrying air force cadets, was on a training flight when it came down near Kharkiv.

www.bbc.com