Azerbaijan, Baku, 25 February / Trend corr. E.Huseinli / The body of one of the pilots of MIG-29, which crashed in Azerbaijan, was recovered from the Caspian Sea. The search for the second pilot continues, Eldar Sabiroglu, the head of the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry press service, reported.
The Ministry press service had, in error, announced information that the bodies of both pilots had been recovered. The flight recorder of MIG-29 was discovered.
Sabiroglu reported that the body belonging to pilot Afgan Aslanov was recovered although, due to weather difficulties, Fakhraddin Askarov's body is still missing.
On 29 Jan, the fighter jet MIG-29 of the Air Forces of Azerbaijan crashed during a training session. Both pilots on board the fighter jet died. A case has been filed by the Military Prosecutor of Azerbaijan.
In 2007, Azerbaijan purchased the fighter jet MIG-29 from Ukraine. MIG-29 fighter jets are produced in Russia.
Elena Lvova, the PR head of the Russian aircraft constructing corporation, previously said to Trend that the crash may have been caused by the outdated equipment. Lvova said that the manufacturer had suggested several times to have the MIG fighters upgraded. "Had this been done, we would have been liable," she said.
The MiG-29 "Fulcrum" was designed and built to be a single-seat supersonic, all-weather, air superiority fighter, representing the latest and perhaps the last fighter production item from the Mikoyan Design Bureau. The primary role of the MiG-29 is to destroy air targets at distances from 60 to 200 kilometers (30 to 110 NM) at all altitudes, on all profiles, in any weather conditions and under all ECM conditions. In addition, the basic MiG-29 is capable of limited air-to-ground operations and in its advanced versions, has been optimized to attack both the stationary and moving targets with precision guided munitions.