Putin caressed the plane with a strange look on his face — Daily Star
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin found himself in yet another awkward situation during a visit to the M.M. Gromov Flight Research Institute in Zhukovsky, near Moscow.
The dictator surprised those present with his unusual behavior when he began gently caressing the controls in the cockpit of a regional passenger airliner.
This aircraft is notorious for a series of fatal plane crashes that have claimed the lives of dozens of people in recent years.
During his official visit to the research institute near Moscow, the Kremlin leader was shown various models of civil aviation aircraft.
In particular, the dictator was shown the new-generation medium-range passenger aircraft, the Yakovlev MC-21–310, and the Il-114–300 turboprop aircraft.
However, it was the troubled Russian airliner that drew Putin’s greatest attention and elicited a strange emotional reaction.
Once inside the cockpit of the Sukhoi SJ-100 regional passenger aircraft, the Russian president began to behave strangely. He started caressing parts of the aircraft with an unusual expression on his face, looking extremely pleased as he did so.
In the published photos, it is clearly visible how, in one photo, he presses his lips together while stroking a part of the plane, and in another, he looks suspiciously at the photographer, as if he had been caught doing something that was not supposed to be captured on camera.
The Sukhoi Superjet 100 jet airliner became the first passenger jet since the Soviet era to be designed and built in Russia. This ambitious aviation project calls for the production of two versions of the aircraft: one capable of carrying 75 passengers and the other 95.
The prototype’s maiden flight took place in May 2008, and the aircraft entered commercial service in April 2011. However, over the years, this model has gained a reputation as an extremely unreliable and dangerous aircraft.
The airliner, which Putin took a liking to, is known for numerous accidents and crashes in which passengers and crew members regularly lost their lives. Dozens of people have died aboard the Sukhoi SJ-100.
In particular, since 2012, aircraft of this model have been involved in five plane crashes, claiming the lives of 89 people. Despite the aircraft’s technical shortcomings, the Kremlin continues to actively use it to promote import substitution.
The Daily Star reports on this.
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