A ‘Top Gun’ stunt ended in tragedy after a fighter jet bounced off the runway following a low-altitude triple-barrel.
Pilot Muhammad Asim Jawad, 32, appeared to be performing a Top Gun-like stunt with three ailerons at low altitude when the fuselage of his Yakovlev Yak-130 scraped the tarmac.
CCTV shows smoke and sparks coming from the Russian plane before Jawad pulled off the runway in Chattogram, Bangladesh, on May 9.
But a fire had already broken out at the rear of the plane and Bangladesh Air Force pilot Jawad and his co-pilot Wing Commander Sohan Hasan Khan were both thrown from the plane.
Both pilots reportedly landed in the Karnaphuli River and were rescued alive by members of the air force, navy and local fishermen, but Jawad later died in hospital, while Khan remains in critical condition.
Pilot Muhammad Asim Jawad, 32, appeared to be performing a Top Gun-like stunt with three ailerons at low altitude when the fuselage of his Yakovlev Yak-130 scraped the tarmac (pictured)
Both pilots reportedly landed in the Karnaphuli River and were rescued alive by members of the air force, navy and local fishermen, but Jawad (pictured) later died in hospital, while Khan remains in critical condition.
CCTV footage showed smoke and sparks coming from the Russian plane before Jawad took off from the runway in Chattogram, Bangladesh, on May 9. But a fire had already broken out at the rear of the plane and Bangladesh Air Force pilot Jawad and his co-pilot Wing Commander Sohan Hasan Khan were both ejected
The plane was later recovered from the water. The government’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement that the training aircraft “crashed due to a mechanical failure.”
They claimed the pilots maneuvered the plane from the densely populated area near the airport into the sparsely populated area where they crashed.
However, CCTV footage of the incident shows that the crash was caused by the risky stunt.
A source said, “Bangladesh Air Force claimed that the crashed YAK 130 fighter jet suffered a mechanical malfunction resulting in a catastrophic crash in the Patenga area of Chittagong.
‘Recently obtained CCTV footage of the runway area, however, contradicts this claim from BAF, showing a hair-raising sequence in which the aircraft attempts to perform three successive ailerons at a dangerously low altitude, almost colliding with the runway.
‘The images show the aircraft skimming the runway at high speed, causing significant damage to the fuselage and starting a fire. After 19 seconds, a delayed analysis shows fragments breaking away from the plane as it rebounds and becomes airborne.
‘At the critical moments that followed, as captured in the video, the engine burst into flames, emitting black smoke. The two pilots, who showed exceptional skill under pressure, managed to eject from the flaming jet.
‘Ejection, a procedure known to exert enormous g-force on the body, often results in temporary loss of consciousness.’