As I mentioned in the last post, I saw an unfamiliar hulk sitting on the ramp at the Reno-Stead Airport the other day and was compelled to take a closer look.

I walked around the fuselage a few times while the crew was looking at their new project.  All the writing stenciled on the surfaces and in the cockpit is Cyrillic.

I don’t know who bought the project, why they got it or where they got it. It looks to me to be a huge project with the added complexity of foreign manuals translated to English – which hasn’t been really successful in the other cases I have seen. I guess it depends on whether the translator is changing a primary language to a second language or translating a second language to a primary one (which of the two languages does the translator usually speak). Technical manuals are sometimes difficult even if you know the language.

When I was there the crew was looking in all the compartments trying to identify the different aircraft systems.  The first project was to get the landing gear extended, even if the fuselage remained on jacks as a precaution. Which systems would have to be activated to make the gear extension work? Electrical and hydraulic for sure.  But there were wire bundles cut in a couple of compartments, probably where equipment had been removed before exporting the project.

I didn’t have many takers in the effort to identify the project. Only one reader replied and was at a loss. I guess it’s a bit too obscure for easy research.

The single-place version is designed to provide close air support for ground forces – the air-to-ground role. The NATO designation is “Frogfoot” and the official model name is Sukhoi SU-25UB for this two-seat trainer variant. You can find out more about the aircraft here.