Su-35 Crash During Taxi Tests Blamed on Engine Malfunction

http://www.moscowtimes.ru/search/index.php?words=su-35&s=Search

KOMSOMOLSK-ON-AMUR, Khabarovsk Region — A next-generation Su-35 fighter crashed during recent runway tests because of an engine malfunction, the aircraft’s maker said Wednesday.

The Su-35 jet burst into flames during a test taxi run at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur airport on April 26. The pilot ejected safely.

Alexander Pekarsh, CEO of the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aicraft Production Association, or KNAAPO, said an engineering defect in the Su-35′s engine control system had been pinpointed as the cause for the crash.

He did not elaborate.

Other sources have hinted the engine problem in question involved a failure in the FADEC system that forced the engine to full thrust. Whatever the truth is it was an embarrassing loss.