Posted on 03/02/2022 2:32:41 PM PST by McGruff
A MIG 21 Lancer fighter belonging to the Romanian Air Forces lost contact with the control tower and went off the radar while performing an air patrol mission in Dobrogea, south-eastern Romania, on Wednesday evening, March 2.
The IAR 330-Puma helicopter that was sent to find the missing MIG aircraft crashed later on the same evening and all the five crew members lost their lives, the Romanian Defense Ministry announced on its Facebook page.
The tragedy occurred amid increased air police missions in Romania after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Several NATO countries have sent more fighter aircraft to participate in such missions in Romania.
(Excerpt) Read more at romania-insider.com ...
Wow, I didn’t know MIG-21’s were still being flown.
Ruh Roh!
What was the weather in the area?
It’s the T-55 of planes, lots of 3rd world nations flying them.
Agreed, a Mig 21
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-21
One can be an accident, two rules that out.
Maybe the jet got too close? But what about the helo?
My bet: Russians want to keep neighboring and particularly weak NATO members skittish. It’s a warning to keep out.
Supposed to be a real hotrod, and not hard to fly. But way behind the times in a modern air force. Nasty in a knife fight. Probably a good cheap way to get hours for their pilots.
Dobrogea abuts the Black Sea. If this Cold War thing is going again then I will not rule out the remote possibility that this was a shoot down by a Russian navy ship in the area.
It is unlikely but stuff like this went on in the old days. Lately it seems like the old days are back so....
Dobrogea has crappy weather at the moment. The mission was at night also. That’s not the best IFR machine out there either.
We have had plenty of rescue helos go down after another machine crashed. That night flying and urgency flying for the SAR is a good way to crash aircraft.
This is how world wars are started.
I bet no one ever hears anything about this again.
good plane. Notice that the F16 inherited a few angles off of this trusty machine.
I didn't, either. The Lancer is apparently a modified version used by Romania.
One could be in Ukraine, or Moldova.
How do you say, "John McCain," in Romanian?
MiG-21 Lancer
Upgraded version for the Romanian Air Force done by Elbit Systems of Israel and Aerostar SA of Romania, in 1995–2002. The LanceR A version is optimized for ground attack being able to deliver precision guided munitions of eastern and western origin as well as R-60, R-73 and Python III air-to-air missiles. The LanceR B version is the trainer version, and the LanceR C version is the air superiority version featuring 2 LCD MFDs, helmet mounted sight and the Elta EL/M-2032 Air combat radar.
I see these flying out of Mihail Kogălniceanu Airbase all the time.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.