Kanamat Botashev

On June 28, 2012, Kanamat Botashev, who by this time had risen to the rank of Major General and commanded a regiment of the Guards Air Base in Voronezh, was at the Besovets airfield in Karelia, where he led flight tactical exercises. It was impossible for him to rise into the sky himself - in 2011, he arbitrarily sat at the helm of the Su-34, without having a special permit and appropriate qualifications, for which he received a disciplinary sanction in the form of suspension from flights. But Botashev was too eager to try out the Su-27. He persuaded the commander of the crew, his friend Colonel Yevgeny Oleynik, to take him with him, and already at altitude took control of himself.

The task was to scout the weather. The pilot began to perform simple maneuvers - turns, turns, "barrels". And already going down, he wanted to show the "bell" - a figure of aerobatics, during which at zero speed the aircraft is brought to a position with the nose up, after which it overturns nose down, as if the bell tongue swings. This is not a - in real combat, the "bell" allows you to "disappear" for missiles with radar guidance on the target.

But Botashev could not bring the maneuver to an end. The plane went into a tailspin. Probably, before the eyes of the pilot swept a memorable episode from his youth Kanamat is going to land. The chassis jams. "Eject immediately!" he hears in his headphones. Botashev understands that the plane is fundamentally new, it is simply impossible to ruin such a machine, and refuses. "No amateur activity! Eject immediately!" the commander shouts. While fire engines and ambulances are pulled to the airfield, Botashev successfully lands. No wonder the leadership said about him: "Botashev has something that only the Lord God can teach!" His colleagues run up to the pilot and do not know whether to honor or to swear ...

Colonel Oleynik, as it became known later at the trial, wanted to take the steering wheel from a comrade. "Don't touch!" he snapped.

For the second time, a miracle in Botashev's life refused to happen. Realizing the hopelessness of the situation, the pilots safely ejected, and the "Sushka" crashed 100 meters from residential buildings.

Kanamat Botashev received 4 years of probation, a fine of 5 million and resigned. What is a shame is that even before the crash he was in the reserve of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and was preparing the transfer of command of the Voronezh 7000th air base. I could have quietly ended my career, but what happened happened.

"To say that I am worried and remorseful is to say nothing. These are empty words, because so much has already been experienced during this time. I think it's an object lesson in how not to do it at all. Not only in aviation, but also in life." Botashev said after the verdict.

Despite the loud scandal, the talent of the pilot outweighed everything, so he was gladly taken to the post of deputy chairman of DOSAAF of Russia in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region for aviation - to transfer experience to other pilots and popularize the profession among young people.

It's been almost 10 years. Botashev has already passed 60. It would seem that it is time to calm down and forget about the sky. But when the special military operation in Ukraine began, he could not observe what was happening from the sidelines.

Kanamat Botashev, having not undergone training and not having the appropriate permission to fly on the Su-27, contrary to the established rules, decided to participate in the flight on aerial weather reconnaissance.

On board the fighter, the Major General took control of the aircraft and showed how to, and how not to, fly. After the "Bell" figure, the plane went into an inverted corkscrew. Batashev could not correct the trajectory. The crew ejected at an altitude of half a kilometer. And the plane crashed to smithereens.