Syrian rebels shot down another Mig-21 fighter jet

The following video, emerged on Sept. 4, shows the remains of a Syrian Arab Air Force Mig-21 shot down near Idlib.

The pilot lies near the tail of the aircraft, with a deployed parachute: most probably the Mig was either hit at low altitude or the pilot ejected when it was too late (thus not giving the chute enough time to fully deploy).

Although it is almost impossible to determine what may have brought the fighter jet down, the fact that the tail of the aircraft is almost intact without any evident burn near the exhaust should be a sign that the Mig-21 was probably not hit by an IR (Infra-Red) MANPADS (Man Portable Air Defense System) or surface-to-air missile.

Once again, it may have been anti-aircraft artillery.

Anyway, further details can be found on the interesting post published by Brown Moses on his blog.

About David Cenciotti
David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.