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Russian social media on March 22 buzzed with reports of a Su-34 Fullback fighter jet hitting the runway hard at an undisclosed location. The jet is shown on video as it comes in for a landing, and careens to a stop.
The jet is shown on video as it comes in for a landing, and careens to a stop. One runway marker or barrel appears to be blown aside during the landing.
The jet proceeds down the runway trailing flames and a landing parachute. It comes to a stop while holding a steady path along the runway. It is not clear from the video whether the crew had called in an emergency before it made the landing approach.
According to social media reports, the crew emerged unscathed, and the jet needs minor repairs.
One commenter, writing in Russian, saluted the aircrew. “If I were in your place, I probably would have ejected, just like the Su-34 emergency manual says,” according to one translation.
The Sukhoi-34 originally was designed for the Soviet Air Forces in 1990. It is a twin-engine, twin-seat, all-weather supersonic medium-range fighter-bomber/strike aircraft. The aircraft officially entered service with the Russian Air Force in 2014.
