NOVOSIBIRSK. Dec 26 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Air Force's MiG-31 interceptor aircraft will resume flying on December 30 after being grounded on December 14, when one of these fighter jets crashed in Primorye in Russia's Far East.
"Flights of MiG-31 planes will be resumed on Monday," Col. Igor Klimov, the Russian Defense Ministry's spokesman for the Air Force, told reporters on Thursday.
The MiG-31 that crashed on December 14 had undergone planned maintenance at Aircraft Maintenance Plant 322. The plane disappeared from radar screens at 5:32 a.m. Shortly afterwards, its crew contacted ground-based services and reported that the aircraft went out of control and crashed at around 5:46 a.m. The pilots safely ejected. They were found by rescuers and were rushed to the Pacific Fleet's Central Hospital.
The plane crashed near the village of Olenevod in the Nadezhdinsky district of the Primorye territory. The accident did not cause any casualties or destruction on the ground.