1989 Belgium MiG-23 crash

Aviation accident MiG-23MLD (12142277663).jpg A Soviet MiG-23 similar to the one involved in the accident 1989 07 04 y Accident Crashed into a house following pilot ejection and fuel exhaustion Bellegem, Kortrijk, Belgium 50 45 33.8 N 3 18 41.4 E inline,title 1 1 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23M Soviet Air Forces Bagicz airbase, Kołobrzeg, Poland 1 1 0 1 1 On 4 July 1989, a pilotless MiG-23 jet fighter of the Soviet Air Forces crashed into a house in Bellegem, near Kortrijk, Belgium, killing one person. The pilot had ejected over an hour earlier near Kołobrzeg, Poland, after experiencing technical problems, but the aircraft continued flying for around 900 km -2 before running out of fuel and crashing into the ground. History of the flight The incident started as a routine training flight. Colonel Nikolai Skuridin, the pilot, was to fly a MiG-23M Flogger-B from the Bagicz Airbase near Kołobrzeg, Poland. During takeoff, the engine's afterburner failed, causing a partial loss of power. At an altitude of 150 m -2 and descending, Skuridin elected to abandon the aircraft and ejected safely. However, the engine kept running and the aircraft remained airborne, flying on autopilot in a westerly direction.http://mm.iit.uni-miskolc.hu/Data/Winx/stories/accid23.html Incident overview from Eastern Wings 2007-03-16 2020-12-07 https://web.archive.org/web/20201207182654/http://mm.iit.uni-miskolc.hu/Data/Winx/stories/accid23.html dead https://www.nytimes.com/1989/07/06/world/belgians-protest-to-soviets-over-crash-of-derelict-mig.html Belgians Protest to Soviets Over Crash of Derelict MIG New York Times 6 July 1989 16 March 2007 The unmanned aircraft left Polish airspace, crossing into East Germany and then West Germany, where it was intercepted by a pair of F-15s from the 32nd Tactical Fighter Squadron of the United States Air Forces Europe, stationed at Soesterberg Air Base in the Netherlands. The F-15 pilots reported that the MiG had no crew.Davies, Steve, and Dildy, Doug, "F-15 Eagle Engaged – The World's Most Successful Jet Fighter", Osprey Publishing, Botley, Oxford, UK, 2007, 978-1-84603-169-4, pages 102–106. At that stage the aircraft was potentially heading towards the United Kingdom's airspace, so a live armed Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) Phantom FGR2 of 56(F) Squadron was scrambled from RAF Wattisham in Suffolk and instructed to fly at maximum subsonic speed to the Kent coast and be prepared to shoot the MiG down if it crossed the English Channel. The MiG-23 crossed into Dutch airspace and continued into Belgium. The escorting F-15s were instructed to shoot down the plane, but as the MiG ran out of fuel, it started a slow turn to the south, prompting the French Air Force to put its fighters on alert. After flying over 900 km, the MiG eventually crashed into the house at 273 Doornikserijksweg, in the town of Bellegem, near Kortrijk, some 5-10 km 1 from the French border, killing a local resident.Lefebvre Claire Sur les traces de l’avion fantôme soviétique qui a failli s’écraser sur Lille https://www.lavoixdunord.fr/1062193/article/2021-08-29/sur-les-traces-de-l-avion-fantome-qui-failli-s-ecraser-sur-lille 25 July 2026 La Voix Du Nord 29 August 2021Yegorov Oleg Why did a Soviet MiG-23 accidentally kill a Belgian farmer? https://www.rbth.com/history/330613-russian-jet-belgium-catastrophe/amp 25 July 2026 Russia Beyond 4 July 2019 Victim The only victim of the accident was Wim Delaere, a computer science student reported to have been either 18 or 19 years old. He was sleeping alone after celebrating the end of his university exams the previous day when the MiG crashed and killed him at 10:30 am. His mother and brother were shopping for groceries in Kortrijk, and his father was working in Ypres. Political aftermath The Belgian government made a formal protest to the Soviet Union for the lack of notification about the stray aircraft. The Belgian Foreign Minister Mark Eyskens expressed concern that there was no warning from the Soviet side during the flight and that there was a "notable slowness" on the part of the Soviets in disclosing whether the jet was carrying nuclear or toxic weapons. The Soviet Union paid Belgium $685,000 in compensation. References External links Graphics of the flight (newspaper Libération, description in French) CBS News report synopsis from the Vanderbilt Television News Archive (accessible only for associates) Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in 1989 Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in Belgium Category:Aviation accidents and incidents caused by fuel exhaustion Category:Aviation accidents and incidents involving Soviet Air Force aircraft Category:1989 in Belgium Category:1989 in the Soviet Union Category:Belgium–Soviet Union relations Category:Diplomatic incidents Category:July 1989 in Europe