KHANKALA, May 10 (AVN) - Five MI-24 Hind fire support helicopters were summoned Wednesday morning for searching for the SU-24MR Fencer reconnaissance plane, a source in the unified federal headquarters told the Military News Agency.
The helicopters have been in the air since morning but they failed to find the plane so far. The search is complicated by unfavourable weather conditions and heavy greenery around the possible crash site.
The General Staff specialists consider three stories of the plane's disappearance. The first is that the pilot failed to control the plane in difficult weather conditions. The second is the failure of aviation instruments. The third is that the plane was downed by an air defence system of Stinger type. If the third story is true, this would be the second case with the Fencer planes since the beginning of the anti-guerrilla operation. The first reconnaissance Fencer was shot down by the militants in October 1999.