He was engaging in unauthorized aerobatics to make a low-altitude roll, said our informant of the investigating commission.
The fighter took off in the Kubinka airfield near Moscow, and was bound for Andriapol, close to Tver. As the craft reached its point of destination, the pilot started rolling at a 145 meter altitude above the Andriapol airfield landing strip-that against mission control orders. He made a last-instant attempt to catapult, but failed and so died.
The pilot and mission control officers made a number of other bungles preceding the crash, holds the commission.
Investigators will make no final verdict before they obtain technical expertise conclusions, a spokesman of the Moscow Military District military prosecutor's office said to Novosti.
