25 years ago: Mathias Rust lands in Red Square, Moscow

[Syt]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/14/german-red-square-cold-war

He was an amateur pilot with 50 hours' flying experience under his belt when youthful folly, his political convictions, or probably a mixture of both prompted the lanky, bespectacled 19-year-old German to fly a rented single-engine Cessna through Soviet air defences and land it next to Red Square.

Twenty-five years later, Mathias Rust's escapade has endured as one of the most memorable footnotes of the cold war. But with the benefit of hindsight the now 44-year-old says his historic adventure was "irresponsible". As for fighting for world peace these days – well, he's more interested in yoga and investment banking.

"I was 19 back then, and the mix of my elan and my political convictions meant that it was really the only option for me," he told Stern magazine. "From today's perspective I look at it differently of course. I would certainly not do it again and would consider my plans back then to be unrealistic ... it was irresponsible."

At the time Rust was dismissed as a crazy teenager. He described his flight as a peace mission prompted by his disillusionment at the slow progress of disarmament talks. But his mission to, as he saw it, unite east and west certainly had its ramifications, not least in giving the then Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, an excuse to sack 200 military officials including his defence minister and others who were opposed to his Glasnost reforms.

On 28 May 1987 – border guards' day, which meant most guards were distracted by vodka and song and not paying attention to their radar screens – Rust landed his plane in the centre of Moscow, near the Kremlin and Red Square. He was immediately surrounded by curious onlookers who engaged him in conversation and asked for his autograph. "I remember a blue Lada driving past me to my right, and the driver looking over to me with huge eyes," he said.

It took two hours before officials came and arrested Rust and impounded his plane. After a trial, he spent 14 months of a four-year sentence at Moscow's Lefortovo prison. He was released early in a goodwill gesture to the west by Gorbachev after he and the US president Ronald Reagan signed a treaty to eliminate intermediate-range nuclear weapons in Europe.

The hero status that Rust won around the world was seriously dented shortly afterwards when he stabbed a trainee nurse who had rejected his affection. He was sentenced to two and a half years in a German prison. In an attempt to throw light on his behaviour, Rust told Stern: "I had a blackout. Otherwise I've always been such a peace-loving, non-violent person, and to this day I've not been able to explain why it happened."

He said he had always been considered a "bit of an oddball", especially when he undertook his national service, and the fact Germans had considered his Moscow adventure to be an act of foolhardiness had made it hard for him to come to terms with real life. Twice married, he now works as an analyst for a Zurich-based investment bank, divides his time between Hamburg, Switzerland and Asia, and is training to be a yoga teacher. He said he had plans to open a yoga school in Hamburg.

The anniversary of his flight is being marked with the publication of a book and a film, for which he returned to Moscow for the first time but later failed to attend the premiere. Despite saying he would not repeat the flight, Rust said: "Had I not done it I would have missed out on seeing and experiencing many things and something would be missing. It was my way of doing things."

[Viking]

I can just imagine the air force generals thinking "we just spent $40 Billion on the B2 and a german amateur manages to do this?"

[Syt]

More details on his flight:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathias_Rust#Flight_profile

Rust was an inexperienced pilot, aged 18, and with about 50 hours of flying experience at the time of his flight. On May 13, 1987, Rust left Uetersen near Hamburg and his home town Wedel in his rented Reims Cessna F172P D-ECJB, which was modified by removing some of the seats and replacing them with auxiliary fuel tanks. He spent the next two weeks traveling across Northern Europe, visiting the Faroe islands, spending a week in Iceland, and then visiting Bergen on his way back. He was later quoted as saying that he had the idea of the attempt to reach Moscow even before the departure, and he saw the trip to Iceland (where he visited Hofdi House, the site of unsuccessful talks between the United States and the Soviet Union in October 1986) as a way to test his piloting skills.[2]
Flight path

In the morning of May 28, 1987, Rust refueled at Helsinki-Malmi Airport. He told air traffic control that he was going to Stockholm, and took off at 12:21pm. However, right after his final communication with traffic control he turned his plane to the east. Air traffic controllers tried to contact him as he was moving around the busy Helsinki–Moscow route, but Rust turned off all communications equipment aboard.[1][3]

Rust disappeared from the Finnish air traffic control radar near Sipoo.[1] Air traffic control presumed an emergency and a rescue effort was organized, including a Finnish Border Guard patrol boat. They found an oil patch near the place where Rust disappeared from radar and performed an underwater search with no results. Rust was later fined about US$100,000 for this effort. The origin of the oil patch remains unknown.

Rust crossed the Baltic coastline in Estonia and turned towards Moscow. At 14:29 he appeared on air defense radar and, after failure to reply to an IFF signal, was assigned combat number 8255. Three SAM divisions tracked him for some time, but failed to obtain permission to launch at him. All air defenses were brought to readiness and two interceptors were sent to investigate. At 14:48 near the city of Gdov one of the pilots observed a white sport plane similar to a Yakovlev Yak-12 and asked for permission to engage, but was denied.[1]

The fighters lost contact with Rust soon after this. While they were directed back to him he disappeared from radar near Staraya Russa. The then-West German magazine Bunte speculated that he might have landed there for some time, citing that he changed his clothes somewhere during his flight, and that he took too much time to fly to Moscow considering his plane's speed and weather conditions.

Air defense re-established contact with Rust's plane several times but confusion followed all of these events. The PVO system had shortly before been divided into several districts, which simplified management but created additional overhead for tracking officers at the districts' borders. The local air regiment near Pskov was on maneuvers and, due to inexperienced pilots' tendency to forget correct IFF designator settings, local control officers assigned all traffic in the area friendly status, including Rust.[1]

Near Torzhok there was a similar situation, as increased air traffic was created by a rescue effort for an air crash that had happened the previous day. Rust, flying a slow propeller-driven aircraft, was confused with one of the helicopters taking part in the rescue. He was spotted several more times and given false friendly recognition twice. Rust was considered as a domestic training plane defying regulations, and was issued least priority.[1]

Around 7:00 p.m. Rust appeared above Moscow's center. He had initially intended to land in the Kremlin, but changed his mind: he reasoned that landing inside, hidden by the Kremlin walls, would have allowed the KGB to simply arrest him and deny the incident. Therefore, he changed his landing spot to Red Square.[1] Heavy pedestrian traffic did not allow him to land there either, so after circling about the square one more time, he was able to land on a bridge by St. Basil's Cathedral. A later inquiry found that trolly wires normally strung over the bridge – which would have incidentally prevented his landing there – had been removed for maintenance that very morning, and were replaced the day after.[1] After taxiing past the cathedral he stopped about 100 meters from the square, where he was greeted by curious passersby and was asked for autographs.[4] A British doctor had videotaped Rust's circling over the Red Square and landing on the bridge.[4] Rust was arrested two hours later.[5]

[Brazen]

I remember this clearly, not least because he's the same age as me.

[CountDeMoney]

I remember this clearly, not least because he's the same age as me.

Yeah, it certainly made my 11th grade Current Events AP class interesting the next day.

[CountDeMoney]

At 14:29 he appeared on air defense radar and, after failure to reply to an IFF signal, was assigned combat number 8255. Three SAM divisions tracked him for some time, but failed to obtain permission to launch at him. All air defenses were brought to readiness and two interceptors were sent to investigate. At 14:48 near the city of Gdov one of the pilots observed a white sport plane similar to a Yakovlev Yak-12 and asked for permission to engage, but was denied.[1]

Soviet ROE only allowed firing upon passenger jetliners.

[Jaron]

I remember this clearly, not least because he's the same age as me.

Yeah, it certainly made my 11th grade Current Events AP class interesting the next day.

lol AP

[CountDeMoney]

lol AP

It was a fine counterbalance to my retardo math skilz.

[Josephus]

I remember this quite clearly as well. Though I forgot all about it.

[Capetan Mihali]

So he went on to stab a nurse and become and work for an investment bank...

[PDH]

So he went on to stab a nurse and become and work for an investment bank...

He's lived so many dreams.

[Admiral Yi]

Yeah, it certainly made my 11th grade Current Events AP class interesting the next day.

Current Events AP??  Did you guys have AP gymn too?

[CountDeMoney]

Yeah, it certainly made my 11th grade Current Events AP class interesting the next day.

Current Events AP??  Did you guys have AP gymn too?

I don't know if it was the school district or just the school, but they were floating several AP "specialization" classes in Social Studies, English and Mathematics that only lasted half the year in either the Spring or the Fall.  I remember them having one on Poetry, too.  Not sure what they did with Math, but then again I was a Math Sped;  had to take Algebra over again in 10th grade

I didn't get it, either, but I was a transfer student for the last 2 years of high school.  Didn't consider it "my" school.  Just did the time.

[sbr]

I remember this too, he is 2 years older than me.  For some reason I was recently talking/thinking about Rust, but not sure why.

[alfred russel]

I can just imagine the air force generals thinking "we just spent $40 Billion on the B2 and a german amateur manages to do this?"

I imagine it might have also had elements of, "Thank God we were approved for spending $40 billion on the B2 before it was shown a German amateur can do this."