Bangladeshi air force Squadron Leader Muhammed Asim Jawad died and his back-seater, his boss Wing Commander Sohan Hasan Khan, is in critical condition after the aircraft lost altitude during a series of aileron rolls and skipped off the side of the runway. After completing three rolls, the Yak-130 pancaked onto the runway at Chattogram Air Force Base and slid off the side before Jawad, 32, hauled the fighter back into the air.
Official reports from the Bangladeshi government portrayed the pilots as heroes and said the plane suffered mechanical problems before they turned it away from populated areas before ejecting. But surveillance video obtained by the Independent showed the stunting. Cellphone video showed the plane’s rear fuselage engulfed in flames before it pitched forward the crew ejected and parachuted into a river. They were rescued and taken to a hospital where Jawad later died.
