Mathias Rust

Rust in a Moscow courtroom

Mathias Rust (born July 1968 in Wedel, Schleswig-Holstein, West Germany) 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, being tracked several times by Soviet air defence and interceptors, which never received permission to shoot him down, and several times mistaken for a friendly aircraft, he landed on Vasilevski Spusk next to Red Square near the Kremlin in the capital of the USSR.

Rust's successful flight through a supposedly impregnable air defense system had a great impact on the Soviet military and led to the firing of many senior officers. The incident enabled Mikhail Gorbachev to speed his reforms and helped bring an end to the Cold War. ^[1]

Flight profile

After leaving Uetersen near Hamburg on May 13 Rust refueled his rented Reims Cessna F172P D-ECJB 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.^[1][2]

Rust disappeared from the Finnish traffic control radar near Sipoo.^[1] 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 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.^[1]

Soon after, the fighters lost contact with Rust, and while they were directed back to him, he disappeared from radars 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]

Mathias Rust's Cessna 172, resting in Red Square some time after his landing.

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. Afterwards, he was spotted several more times, but given false friendly recognition twice; he was considered as a domestic training plane defying regulations, and was issued least priority.^[1]

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 Moscow's center. He had initially intended to land in the Kremlin, but due to lack of proper landing space reverted to 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 a bridge 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.^[1]

Aftermath

Rust's trial started in Moscow on September 2, 1987. He was sentenced to four years following light regime terms for hooliganism, disregard of aviation laws and breaching of the Soviet border. He served his time at the Lefortovo jail in Moscow. Two months after Reagan and Gorbachev agreed to sign a treaty to eliminating intermediate-range nuclear weapons in Europe, the Supreme Soviet ordered Rust released as a good will gesture to the west. He returned to West Germany on August 3, 1988.^[1]

William E. Odom, former director of the National Security Agency and author of The Collapse of the Soviet Military, says that Rust’s flight irreparably damaged the reputation of the Soviet military. This enabled Gorbachev to remove many of the strongest opponents to his reforms. The Soviet defense minister and the Soviet air defense chief were fired along with hundreds of other officers. This was the biggest turnover in the Soviet military since Stalin’s purges fifty years earlier.^[1]

Later life

While doing his obligatory community service (Zivildienst) in a West German hospital in 1989, Rust stabbed a female co-worker who had rejected him. The injuries were life-threatening and he was sentenced to four years in prison for attempted murder and was released after having served fifteen months. ^[3]

In 1996 he became engaged to a daughter of a rich Indian tea merchant and converted to Hinduism.^[4]

In 2001 he was convicted for stealing a cashmere pullover and ordered to pay 10,000 marks; the sentence was later reduced to 600 marks.^[3] In 2005, he was convicted of fraud and had to pay €1,500 for stolen goods.^[3]

As of 2009, Rust works as a professional poker player.^[5]

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.^[6]

The American band Wampeters included a song on their Hey Judas CD that celebrates Mathias as a "hero or a scourge."^[7]

The French software house Cobra Soft published the videogame Cessna over Moscow for the Amstrad CPC computer, inspired by Rust.

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".^[8]

Estonian President Lennart Meri named his wolfhound in honour of Rust.^[9]

The final track of the 2004 album La Increíble Aventura by Spanish band Migala is called Lecciones de Vuelo con Mathias Rust (Flying Lessons With Mathias Rust).^[10]

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.

References

External links

• Rust in Red Square (English) about the flight and the aftermath. Interview clips are embedded in a flash presentation. (Oct 2007)
• TV Interview 2007 on YouTube English interview in Danish news cast eng/eng subs (May 28, 2007)
• Smithsonian's Air & Space Magazine: "The Notorious Flight of Mathias Rust" Comprehensive article about the flight and the political aftermath in Gorbachev's USSR (July 1, 2005)
• Guardian: interview with Mathias Rust
• Where Are They Now?: Mathias Rust
• Recent photo of Rust's plane in Japan
• Novaya Gazeta: РУСТ — ЭТО ПО-НАШЕМУ
• Washington Post: A Dubious Diplomat Washington Post article on Rust incident, aftermath, and Rust's life today. (May 27, 2007)
• Mathias Rust, fly to the hearth of USSR (By Jose Antonio Lozano - In Spanish)
• Danmarks Radio - "Rust in Red Square" interview, May 2007
• IMDB Entry

v • d • e ← 1986 Aviation accidents and incidents in 1987 1988→ Pan Am Flight 125 (March 10) — LOT Polish Airlines Flight 5055 (May 9) — Mathias Rust (May 28) — Philippine Airlines Flight 206 (June 27) — Northwest Airlines Flight 255 (August 16) — Thai Airways Flight 365 (August 31) — Ramada Inn Corsair crash (October 20) — Continental Airlines Flight 1713 (November 15) — South African Airways Flight 295 (November 28) — Korean Air Flight 858 (November 29) — Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771 (December 7) — Alianza Lima air disaster (December 8) Bold indicates accidents resulting at least 50 deaths Orange color indicates the deadliest accident in 1987