An air force pilot in Belarus may have had some explaining to do after he ejected from his MiG-29 during a fiery failed takeoff attempt. Video of the incident was posted to Facebook July 5 but the incident happened in February during a military exercise in Babruysk. In the video, the fighter does what appears to be a normal takeoff run but at rotation (possibly premature) things start to unravel.
As the nose rises, the gear begins retracting but the aircraft doesn’t appear to have flying speed and settles on its belly. The pilot rides it out for a second or two but as flames trail from the doomed aircraft, he ejects. “No one was injured. The plane did not leave the territory of the airport,” the Belarus military said in a statement.
