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)
