Mathias Rust

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Rust in a Moscow courtroom
Rust in a Moscow courtroom

Mathias Rust (born 1968) is a German man known for his illegal landing near Red Square in Moscow in 1987. As an amateur aviator, he flew from Finland to Moscow, eluding the Soviet air defenses and landing on Vasilevski Spusk next to Red Square near the Kremlin in the capital of the former USSR.

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[edit] Flight profile

After leaving Uetersen on May 13 Rust refueled his rented Reims Cessna F172P D-ECJB[1] in the morning of May 28, 1987 at Helsinki-Malmi Airport. He told air traffic control that he was going to Stockholm, but right after his final communication with traffic control he turned his plane to the east. Traffic controllers tried to contact him as he was moving around the busy Helsinki-Moscow route, but Rust turned off all communications equipment aboard.

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

In the meantime, Rust crossed the Baltic coastline in Estonia and turned towards Moscow. At 14:29 he appeared on air defense radar and, after failure to answer 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 "like Yak-12" and asked for permission to engage, but was denied.

Soon after, fighters lost contact with Rust, and while they were directed back to him, he disappeared from radars near Staraya Russa. German magazine Bunte speculated that he might have landed there for a 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 defence 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.

Near Torzhok there was a similar situation, as increased air traffic was created by a rescue effort for an air crash which happened the previous day. Rust on his slow prop plane was confused with one of the helicopters taking part in the rescue. Afterwards, he was spotted several more times, but given false friendly recognition twice; he was considered as a domestic training plane defying the regulations, and was issued least priority.

Several interesting events coincided with the final stretch of his route. The control system of the Central Air Defence District was unexpectedly turned down for unscheduled maintenance, and all flights around Sheremetyevo airport were forbidden for about twenty minutes — just for the time Rust was above it. The origins of these events are still unknown.

Around 7:00 p.m. Rust appeared above the Moscow center. He had initially intended to land in the Kremlin, but due to lack of proper landing space reverted to the Red Square. Heavy pedestrian traffic didn't allow him to land there either, so after circling about the square one more time, he finally was able to land on Vasilevsky Spusk — a less congested open space by St. Basil's Cathedral. After taxiing past the Cathedral he finally stopped about 100 meters from the square, where he was greeted by curious passersby. He was arrested soon afterwards.

[edit] Aftermath

Rust's trial started in Moscow on September 2, 1987. He was sentenced to four years in a labour camp following light regime terms for hooliganism, disregard of aviation laws and breaching of the Soviet border. After serving 432 days at the Lefortovo jail in Moscow, he was released on parole. He returned to West Germany on August 3, 1988 after former long-time foreign minister Andrei Gromyko, acting as president of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, signed the document that enabled Rust to regain his freedom.

[edit] Later turbulent life

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  • April 1994: He returned to Russia and visited points of interest such as the site where he landed in 1987.
  • 1996: Engaged to a daughter of a rich Indian tea merchant and converted to Hinduism[2].
  • 2003 August: Launched an internet site promoting a "think tank" called Orion & Isis which endeavored to "work on issues which contain non-violent solutions to resolve conflicts between government, ethnic or religious institutions." Applicants needed to be in possession of an administrative position with the connected powers of attorney or in possession of major influence from any other level. After not gaining much publicity, the site disappeared.
  • 2004 July: Living in Berlin married to his second wife Athena.

As of 2007, a wealthy Japanese businessman owns Rust's aircraft, and is keeping it in a hangar until its value appreciates.[citation needed]

[edit] Influence on popular culture

Because Rust's flight seemed to be a blow to the authority of the Soviet regime, it was the source of numerous jokes and urban legends.

Very soon after the incident, SubLogic, the original publishers of the Flight Simulator franchise, issued a scenery disk that expanded the original program's coverage area to include Eastern Europe. A challenge in the program was to land in Red Square like Rust had just done.[3]

The American band Wampeters included a song on their Hey Judas CD called that celebrates Mathias as a "hero or a scourge."[4]

The couplet The rumour had it (Estonian: Kui liikusid jutud) by Estonian band Talong includes the verses Once landed a bastard from Devil-knows-where // in Kremlin's rayone straight out of the blue. // Press of the world was filled with lust // when marshalls lost face o'er Mathias Rust.

The Norwegian pop/folk band D.D.E. wrote a song about hope, called "Det umulige e mulig" ("The impossible is possible") with numerous references to Rust's famous flight - "a small plane landed on the Red Square".[5]

Estonian President Lennart Meri named his dog after Rust. Probably he as writer did it more as honour as just a joke. [6]

[edit] Media about Mathias Rust

Following the 20th anniversary of his flight on May 28, 2007, the international media interviewed Rust about the flight and its aftermath.

The Washington Post and German Bild both have online editions of their interviews. The most comprehensive video interview online is produced by The Danish Broadcasting Corporation. In their interview Rust in Red Square, recorded in May 2007, Mathias Rust gives a full recount of the flight in English.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Coptercrazy (undated). Listing of Production Reims F172. Retrieved on 2007-12-23.
  2. ^ German daredevil grounded by court Guardian Unlimited - April 21, 2001
  3. ^ Scenery Disk "Western European Tour" Moby Games article about the Flight Simulator addon disk.
  4. ^ Doyon, Mark (1997). Mathias Rust. Retrieved on 2008-01-13.
  5. ^ Det umulige e mulig DDE's official homepage
  6. ^ [1] Estonian newspaper article about Meri has mention about dog

[edit] External links