The Last Flight of L-39C Albatros 0440
I am writing this summary on the request of a friend, mechanic and modeller. With respect to the fact that it pertains to our own activities, I will refrain from naming names, since I am not sure that my former colleagues would be agreeable with their printing. Furthermore, I must admit that I am describing an event that took place some fourteen years ago, and I cannot locate my copy of the investigation report conclusions, resulting in my going strictly by memory. I have recounted this story so many times to so many people, that I suspect that some deviation from the actual reality of it is unavoidable. So, please forgive me if the following recount is less than perfect.
I am writing this summary on the request of a friend, mechanic and modeller. With
respect to the fact that it pertains to our own activities, I will refrain from naming names,
since I am not sure that my former colleagues would be agreeable with their printing.
Furthermore, I must admit that I am describing an event that took place some fourteen
years ago, and I cannot locate my copy of the investigation report conclusions, resulting in
my going strictly by memory. I have recounted this story so many times to so many people,
that I suspect that some deviation from the actual reality of it is unavoidable. So, please
forgive me if the following recount is less than perfect.
The Last Flight of L-39C
Albatros 0440
David Sochacký
L-39C coded 0440 (Serial Number 395306) during service
st Náměšt nad Oslavou. [Photo: Milan Simr]
(Photo: unless specified otherwise,
the Author’s and Tomas Dedera
Archives)
It was Monday, July 12, 2010 and a hot summer
day was expected, and the Flight Training Center
(CLV) in Pardubice had scheduled a standard
flight regime for this day. At that time, the
rule was followed that if the air temperature
rises above 33°C, flying was postponed. The
temperature was rising quickly, so we held off
on flights for a bit.
By this time I was in my second year of training
at the CLV and our average logged flight time in
the L-39C was about 300 hours per pilot. It was
generally expected that we would be posted to our
parent unit at the end of the year and our training
would slowly transition to a maintenance phase.
This required a lot of repetitive tasks. On that
given day, we were to perform some air combat
with planned maneuvers, with me acting as the
target and my colleague and friend in the role of
intercepting fighter. According to the applicable
CLV rules, an instructor pilot had to be on board
the ‘target’ aircraft at all times. The three of us
held off with our flight until the mercury began to
drop again. Around three o'clock in the afternoon,
the air temperature reached its maximum and
began to gradually decrease, so we began to
prepare for the flight.
The pair took off at 1600h local time, and
‘Forty’ (as we affectionately called the airplane
coded 0440) was one of the so-called ‘lazier’
machines, so it flew as the target and at the
same time led the pair to the training zone. Our
training area was known as ‘Oscar’ and ‘Mike’
within the Pardubice TMA (Eastern) jurisdiction.
Immediately after arriving in the zone, we took
up our positions and the simulated combat
began. The task of the target in this type of
exercise is to perform prearranged escape
maneuvers, while the fighter, on the other hand,
had the task of maintaining his advantageous
position in the rear hemisphere of the target and
continuously creating necessary conditions for
a cannon engagement. Essentially, it’s a sort of
a dual higher level aerobatics.
The weather was almost perfect and after
a while I realized that I had an instructor pilot
behind me who would definitely like to ‘fight’ too,
so I asked him if he wanted to fly around a bit.
It was clear to me that he would not refuse the
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