MURMANSK, September 14 (RIA Novosti, Yekaterina Kozlova) - It is senseless to raise the Su-33 Flanker carrier-based fighter that crashed off the deck of the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier during Northern Fleet maneuvers on September 5, as no secret equipment is onboard, a senior naval official said Wednesday.
Vladimir Dobroskochenko, first deputy commander of the Northern Fleet, said, "Raising the plane is senseless, as it is at a depth of 1,100 meters and contains nothing secret. It's just a heap of iron now."
Dobroskochenko said the fighter's brake cable snapped when it was landing during a routine mission in the North Atlantic. He said the pilot had bailed out of the aircraft unharmed.
The vice admiral said special identification equipment onboard the plane had self-destructed and a defense ministry commission was investigating the accident.