It is convenient to observe a person in a familiar environment. And when the normal course of events is suddenly disrupted, you can see the same person from the other side.
When we arrived at the Aviadarts in the village of Dubrovichi in the Ryazan region, a festive atmosphere reigned there. In general, pilots are quite peculiar people. But in such an atmosphere, very informative. We were told with great satisfaction how this landfill was built, how people live and serve in general.
Air Force Major Moseichuk, who spent a fair amount of his time on me, was not a representative of the Air Force's information service. Assigned, so to speak, for strengthening. But during my communication with him, I received more information than ever before. In general, the major turned out to be a real comrade major. Competent in many matters and sincerely willing to help us in our work. Many thanks to him for that, and let his Tu-95 never break down.
The festive mood was evident even in the speech of the Air Force Commander-in-Chief Bondarev.
It was over in exactly a second.
The helicopter fell, and with it all hopes that everything would be okay collapsed. Immediately, the military police cleared the passage for firefighters and ambulances. The fire was extinguished and the pilots were evacuated.
The rest could only wait.
People have changed in an instant. Intense anticipation. Experience. In general, everyone present was worried, some more, some less. From the very beginning, Roman and I took our place a little apart from the rest of the press. In the corner under the control tower windows. And the helicopter fell just opposite us.
A few minutes later, a whole bunch of people in blue uniforms gathered. They silently and without stopping looked to where the firefighters shot down the flames from the burning helicopter. We watched every car that went to the crash site. Silently.
Then some representatives of the press came up. They began to shoot reports with a helicopter in the background. Some came up and asked to answer questions. The reaction of the pilots was the same - as if the pole spoke to them. Well, they reacted in about the same way - in silence and with complete incomprehension in their eyes.
When the information passed that one of the pilots was alive, and the doctors were fighting for the second, they let go. But not for long.
We just looked at these people. We were with them.
