The shooting down of a Russian Sukhoi Su-25 attack plane recorded by its own pilot

@DefAviation ES 10·23·2022 · 22:16 0

In the history of aviation, many spectacular films have been seen, but the one broadcast today is, without a doubt, one of the most spectacular.

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This morning, the Russian Youtube channel Fighterbomber posted a video showing the shooting down of a Russian Air Force Sukhoi Su-25 attack plane in Ukraine, recorded by its own pilot using a GoPro camera attached to his helmet. To my recollection, this is the first time such a video has been recorded in a combat situation. Judging by the images, the plane would have been hit by a portable surface-to-air missile (MANPADS) and the video would have been recorded this summer:

Let's see below a series of captures of the video to analyze what is seen in it. The recording begins with an image of the front part of the Su-25's cockpit.

In this image we see the cockpit dome being ejected for pilot ejection.

Immediately, the pilot activates his ejection seat and is ejected from the plane. In this image we see the nose of the Su-25.

There is a large flash followed by sparks. This is most likely the rocket that propels the ejection seat out of the plane.

In this frame we see the nose of the plane. The images appear to have been inverted, perhaps to make it difficult to identify the aircraft and the site. We're looking at a backwards "09" and that's the right side of the plane, not the left. Could be this Su-25SM3 photographed by Alexandr Kharlanov in 2019.

The pilot records his Su-25 after the ejection. The number, previously clearer, now appears more diffuse. This seems to indicate that the video was edited to blur the number of the plane, but they missed the previous frame.

Another image of the Su-25 after the ejection of the pilot. We see the canopy of the cockpit falling very close to the plane.

A spectacular image in which we see that the plane has the drift cut in half. The right motor (remember that we are seeing inverted images) seems to be on fire.

The frame following the previous image. We clearly see the flames coming out of the engine and the mowed drift.

The pilot's parachute straps at the moment of opening.

Just after the opening of the parachute, the pilot looks back at his plane and sees how it crashes, causing an explosion near a forest.

Once on the ground, the pilot manages to get up and sees the column of smoke caused by the explosion of his plane when it collided with the ground.