According to TASS, on December 24, 2019, Russia’s first “mass-produced” Su-57 fighter jet manufactured by the Gagarin manufacturing plant in the Komsomolsk region of the Amur River crashed during a flight test in Khabarovsk Krai. The pilot skydived to escape and was later rescued by a Mi-8 search and rescue helicopter. According to sources, this Su-57 fighter jet is the first “production-type” Su-57 fighter jet, which was originally scheduled to be delivered to the army three days after a successful test flight. This is the first time that the Russian Su-57 has crashed since its first flight in 2010.
According to the information revealed after further investigation by the Russian side, engine of this fighter was tested for the maximum state during a 40-minute test flight, and the pilot reported that “the plane lost control”, the Su-57’s horizontal rear wing automatically deflected, causing the plane to enter an uncontrolled “spiral” flight state and keep dropping. From the altitude of 10,000 meters to less than 2,000 meters when the aircraft broke down, the test pilot tried his best to try their best to still not be able to restore control of the aircraft and recover smoothly. At this time, he had to choose a catapult to escape.
According to analysis of Chinese military magazine “Ordnance Industry Science Technology”, this crashed Su-57 is likely to have troubles in underlying control of digital telex flight control system.
It’s known that compared to those of the fourth-generation fighters, the flight control system of the fifth-generation fighters is much more complicated, and the technical structure would increase exponentially. This is mainly because the flight control of the fifth-generation aircraft uses “fly-thrust integrated control system”. Indirect force control elements such as the air rudder surface are directly integrated. In order to pursue ultimate maneuverability and aerodynamic performance, Su-57 fighter is already very complicated in flight control, including leading-edge maneuvering surface, full-motion tail, etc., plus the vector thrust engine, which is more technically complicated and difficult to implement.
If the fundamental problem is in the flight control system, it would be very difficult to resolve. This involves a large number of tests, calculations, and troubleshooting and modification of core modules, which means that a lot of work must be redone – some projects might need to be started all over again, which means a lot of time.