Pilot up for medal after miracle landing

A lieutenant in the Russian Aerospace Forces is up for a decoration after managing to land his transport without damage or injury to any of the crew or paratroopers on board. The plane’s engines went out during a training flight.

Senior Lieutenant Maxim Kabakov was piloting a light transport, carrying two other crew members and ten airborne troops, on a training flight on Thursday. Shortly after taking off from the Kresty airport near Pskov, in the West of the country, at an altitude of just over 100 meters, his engines lost thrust. 

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As his aircraft stopped climbing and began losing speed, Kabakov radioed his command and picked a landing site. He set the plane down on what the Russian military described only as “an unprepared surface,” without any injury to anyone on board. 

Moreover, the plane itself was not damaged in the landing. It will return to service after a technical review to determine the cause of engine failure, the military said. 

For his courage and skill, Kabakov has been nominated for an award by the commander of the Russian Aerospace Forces.

Pskov, located in western Russia near the Estonian border, is the home of the 76th Guards Air Assault Division, one of the most notable units in the elite airborne corps. 

A civilian pilot of Ural Airlines pulled off a similar feat in August 2019, after his Airbus A321 struck a flock of birds on takeoff from Moscow’s Zhukovsky Airport. The Crimea-bound flight ended up landing in a field about a mile away. Some of the 226 passengers on board suffered injuries in the landing, but no one died.