Video that shows in the first person Russian pilot ejection at low altitudeseconds before his fighter jet, apparently a Su-25, crashed, sparked a new wave of discussion on social media. The material is really impressive, and experts consider it the first of its kind made public. Additionally, it shows the protagonist’s quick reflexes to escape the airship just before it turns into a fireball. But it also sparked heated debate about its origins and veracity.
The clip, which lasts just under two minutes, has gone viral on the Telegram channel. fighter-bomber, but it didn’t take long on other platforms either. Information about the context of the incident was scarce from the start, but some of the most popular reports indicated that it was a Russian aircraft. shot down by a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile.
Chilling sequence. In the first seconds of the video, you can see the ejection of the Russian pilot just a moment after his plane seemed to have been shot down. Since the incident happened while he was flying at low altitude, his quick exit from the cockpit allowed him to escape with a parachute and see the moment the plane crashed in a field. The rest of the clip, which appears to have been taken with a GoPro type camera attached to the protagonist’s helmet, shows the rest of the scenery from the pilot’s point of view while talking on the radio.
Controversy around the video ejection of the Russian pilot
A few minutes after the material hit Twitter, the social network was flooded with dozens of screenshots and frame-by-frame analysis. Both specialists and public opinion experts decided to intervene in the conversation. Thus, it was possible to determine or, at least, to come to a common opinion that we are talking about the Su-25. As for the damage received, after a short time you can see the ignition of the engines and the destruction of both the vertical and horizontal stabilizers. As for the ejection, the instruments on the video would show that the Russian pilot would have been thrown only 200 meters from the ground. Although it is argued that it could be at an even lower height.
As we mentioned, the video went viral not only because of the spectacular ejection scene of the Russian pilot, which had never been seen before in first person, but also because of the general belief that the plane was shot down by Ukraine. However, as the hours passed, the hypothesis also began to circulate that the material would not depict combat, but possible accident.
In June last year, it became known that a fighter jet, coincidentally a Su-25, had crashed in Belgorod; an area bordering on the west with Ukrainian lands. It was mentioned at the time that the aircraft fell to the ground after hitting a high-voltage power line, during exercises at low altitude. A video released from the scene showed a landscape very similar to the one in the ejection clip that went viral this weekend.
In fact, videos of a Sukhoi Su-25 flying a few meters above a road criss-crossed by electric cables were released that same month.
After the video of the Russian pilot’s ejection was viralized, more analyzes emerged that would show that it would, in fact, correspond to an incident with a high-voltage power line. Even geolocation data has been published, which, apparently, should ratify it..
Social media discussion
However, the debate over the provenance and validity of every piece of material shared on Twitter has turned responses to all related tweets into a fierce battle. Something not new but climbed to another level since the beginning of the Ukrainian war.
In the eight months since the Russian invasion, photos and videos purporting to be related to the conflict have increased. And while most of the material is legal, there have also been many reported instances where it is not.
Lack of context is, as always, a huge problem with viral posts.. And the case with the video of the ejection of the Russian pilot seems to be no exception.
Source: Hiper Textual
