The deputy head of Russia's maritime aviation died on Tuesday after the SU-33 fighter plane he was piloting crashed during an acrobatics display at an airshow, the navy told AFP.
After performing a number of acrobatic maneouvres at an airshow in honour of Maritime Aviation Day in the Pskov region near the Estonian border, the plane suddenly started to descend, officials said.
The jet disappeared behind one of the hills close the aerodrome before crashing into some uninhabited sheds at 11.52 am, not far from the village of Cherepyagino.
The pilot, Major-General Timur Apakaidze, was alive when the rescue team arrived at the accident site, 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the city of Ostrov. But his condition was extremely serious and he died en route to hospital.
The Su-33 crew usually consists of two people, but it was piloted only by Apakaidze.
The Russian navy's top spokesman Igor Dygalo said in a statement faxed to AFP that the reasons for the accident were unclear and that a special inquiry had been set up.
Several planes have crashed in Russia this July -- MOSCOW (AFP)
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