Russia has grounded its Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jets while a crash of one is investigated.
Head of the Russian Air Force, Colonel-General Viktor Bondarev has ordered the grounding of the country's entire Su-27 fleet, until the reasons behind the crash that led to a pilot's death on Thursday are clear, the TASS news agency reported.
Meanwhile, investigators working at the crash site recovered the flight-data recorder and sent it to the Defense Ministry's Research Institute. The black box was in good condition, according to TASS.
A Su-27 fighter jet crashed on Thursday morning in the Moscow Region, TASS reported. The body of the pilot was found in the forest at the accident site, located about two kilometers from the village of Muranovo.
The crash was likely caused by a technical error, the Defense Ministry's press service said, adding that the pilot attempted to avoid crashing into the village. "He had no time left for ejection," Ministry representatives added.
The aircraft fell apart into pieces, but the color of surviving parts indicates that it belongs to the elite aerobatics squad Russkiye Vityazi, or Russian Knights, an unidentified source within the emergency services told TASS.
The Defense Ministry confirmed that the jet crashed while returning to the airbase after a planned flight. Six jets from the Russian Knights squad took part in the opening ceremony of a monument dedicated to Russian aviators in the village of Anushkino earlier on Thursday. Only five of them returned to the airbase, TASS reported.
Comment: Mateen, 29, is apparently a US citizen born to Afghan parents. This is what an FBI official initially had to say: "We do have suggestions that that individual may have leanings towards that particular ideology [extremism]. But right now we can't say definitively so we're still running everything around." Now, the media are saying that Mateen made a call to 911 prior to the attacks where he pledged allegiance to ISIS. Right...
This guy had been on the FBI's radar for 5 years. 'Anonymous officials' are saying there is no immediate evidence proving any connection between the shooting and Islamic State or any other foreign extremist organization. Senator Bill Nelson said this: "I asked the FBI if there was any connection to Islamic radicalism. There appears to be. But they are naturally cautious and waiting throughout to see if if this is [in fact true]." They'd be the ones to know! The FBI is responsible for the vast majority of radicalization and terror plots in the U.S.
Mateen's father had this to say: Similarly, as MoA points out in the article, even if he did "pledge allegiance" to ISIS (which is highly dubious), that is meaningless. Any moron can say they like ISIS - that doesn't mean they were not simply bigoted criminals.