Five SU-27 fighter jets arrived at the airport of Zhangjiajie National Forest Park in central China's Hunan Province on Wednesday, poised for the upcoming aerial acrobatics display through a natural mountain cave.

 

The fighter jets dispatched by the Russia Air Force made a stopover in Hohhot, capital of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region before heading to the performance site at Zhangjiajie, which is famous for its natural water-eroded cave, known as Heavenly Gate Mountain.

 

Pilots of the heavy fighter planes are expected to race through the 60-meter wide natural cave at a speed of 700 km per hour in the aerial aerobatics stunt on March 17.

 

Hungarian Peter Besenyei, on an Extra 300S plane, who flew through the Heavenly Gate in a stunt in 1999, entered the Guinness Book of Records as the first pilot in the world to fly through a natural cave.

 

The cave, located 1,261 meter above the sea level, is measured at 127m x 2m.

 

The Russian Air Force is expected to send 10 planes including the fighter jets, coach plane and transporter for the three-day performance in Zhangjiajie, which is one of the activities to mark China's Russian Year, when a range of cultural exchanges between China and Russia will be held.

 

(Xinhua News Agency March 16, 2006)