A Russian aviation blogger has been killed by a fatal air defense system error after his ultralight aircraft was mistaken for a Ukrainian drone and shot down.
Pavel Koșkin PHOTO Instagram/koshkinpa
Pavel Koskin and his passenger, identified as Vadim, died last Friday after their Czech-made Alto NG ultralight aircraft was hit while flying near Kolomna, southeast of Moscow, independent Russian publication Mediazona reported.
The crash site is near a facility that produces Iskander missiles, widely used in the war in Ukraine, which may have contributed to the misidentification of the aircraft amid increased drone activity.
Russian authorities announced that 27 Ukrainian drones were intercepted near the capital that night. Analysts who examined the wreckage said the aircraft was most likely hit by a Tor surface-to-air missile system.
Rescue teams later recovered the wreckage near Kolomna, with witnesses reporting hearing a loud explosion and seeing a plume of smoke in the sky at the time of the incident.
Officials confirmed that an aircraft had crashed, killing two people, but did not specify the cause.
Koskin held a private pilot's certificate and ran a YouTube channel dedicated to light aircraft flights. He is survived by his pregnant wife and their two-year-old child.
Pavel Koșkin PHOTO Instagram/koshkinpa
“They just pulled the trigger”
France-based aviation blogger Igor Volkov said on social media that Koskin always followed all necessary procedures.
“Pavel always flew correctly, with all the formalities completed, with the transponder on and the flight plan filed”he said.
“But the soldiers' stupidity and blindness knows no bounds. Fed up with drones, they simply pulled the trigger — and two people lost their lives”he added.
Although the deceased influencer had “functional rooms” on board, Volkov stated that he was certain that no one would ever see the recordings.
A pattern of fatal errors
The information heightened concerns about incidents of the type “friendly fire”as Moscow tries to repel the increasingly frequent attacks by Ukrainian drones, writes TVP World.
Russian air defense systems have repeatedly mistaken their own aircraft for enemy drones.
At least 17 Russian aircraft have been lost to friendly fire since 2022, according to independent estimates by investigative publication The Insider.
