"The girl was already nose-diving without a pilot about seven seconds later." A friend of the hang-glider pilot who crashed in Strochitsy told what led to the tragedy

Debris of the "Fregat" motor-hang glider. April 14, Ozyartso village, Minsk district. Photo: State Forensic Examination Committee

On the afternoon of April 14, a rare tragedy for Belarus occurred near the village of Ozyartso — a motor-hang glider crash. The hang glider crashed near the museum in Strochitsy: the apparatus fell not far from the mill, at the end of the runway.

Eyewitnesses said that almost immediately after takeoff, the motor-hang glider began to rapidly descend and eventually crashed to the ground. First, the man fell out of the hang glider, then the machine itself hit the ground. Both the man and the girl died on the spot from their injuries.

The motor-hang glider was piloted by Ruslan Ivanov, a 45-year-old instructor, better known as a member of the music group "Tsvet Aloe". The cause of the tragedy was the hang glider entering an exceptionally strong updraft of warm air. This version was expressed on STV by Ruslan's friend, showman Sergey Lapkovsky.

— They say that the most difficult part is the takeoff. If the first 100 meters are cleared, then everything is wonderful, — Lapkovsky said. —

They took off to 50 [meters] and at that moment they entered a warm current, which forms [a kind of] bubble. The bubble pushed the wing, and the craft began to tilt to 90 degrees. As an experienced pilot, Ruslan, in order to level it, immediately took full control and practically leveled both wings. [But] as soon as they were back in place, one of the wings broke off from this current, and they began to nose-dive. On the second turn, the pressure tore Ruslan's belts, the side, left and right ones were torn, and he fell out. Well, the girl was already nose-diving without a pilot about seven seconds later, — Lapkovsky said.

His words refute the earlier opinion of some that the pilot was not buckled in.

The motor-hang glider flew at the base of the popular "Avia Minsk" center.

Specialists are determining the exact cause of the tragedy. The Investigative Committee initially reported that, according to preliminary assessments, the pilot lost control. Ivanov's relatives said that during takeoff, the hang glider "hit a wrong air current, the wing broke, and they fell."

The tragedy occurred in front of children who were visiting the museum.

— Yesterday my child was on an excursion at the ethnographic museum in Strochitsy. As I understand it, eager students from the entire grade level were taken there, — a father of one of the schoolchildren told "Onliner". — When we were walking home with the child, he started to tell me that during the excursion he saw a hang glider taking off, and then falling, and how ambulances arrived afterward. At first, I thought the child was just retelling some plot from a game, but in the evening, after reading the news, I realized that the children had seen everything in reality.

The teacher who accompanied the children during the excursion clarified that not only first-graders but also second-grade students were on the trip.

— We were standing near the village school when the motor-hang glider took off. The children, naturally, began to follow its flight. Literally twenty seconds later, it began to rapidly descend. It was clear that it was falling. We were quite far from that place, so we only heard the sound of the apparatus hitting the ground. We stayed on the excursion for another twenty minutes and then left. We only saw ambulances and rescuers rushing to the scene. It's horrible, of course, to realize that you witnessed such a tragedy...

The "Avia-Minsk" aero club is located in the agro-town of Ozyartso on the territory of the Belarusian State Museum of Folk Architecture and Rural Life. Its runway is situated slightly away from the excursion routes.

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