Amateur Russian aviator, 88, killed during takeoff of homemade helicopter: report
Vladimir Trapeznikov, locally famous in his native Omutninsky district, conducted the tragic exhibition of his DIY aircraft on Thursday, CNN reported citing Russian officials.
The crash scene on Thursday where amateur aviator Vladimir Trapeznikov was killed during takeoff of his homemade helicopter.
CNN
Advertisement
'[D]uring engine startup, while still on the ground and as the engine power was building, the main rotor blades detached. This caused injuries to the pilot,' the Volga Region Transport Prosecutor's Office said a statement, according to CNN.
Trapeznikov was taken to Omutninsky District Hospital with the propeller injury and died hours later, that report stated.
A truck driver for a logging company by trade, Trapeznikov was remembered locally for building his own working flying contraptions.
Advertisement
He successfully flew a homemade airplane in 1985 which landed him a spot in a short film and TV newsreels.
Trapeznikov made a total of five aircraft as an airman hobbyist.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
3 hours ago
- New York Post
Miranda Devine: Russiagate lies are being exposed — and everybody is watching, even the Dems
Despite the best efforts of Russiagate-complicit media to dismiss as 'Russian disinformation' the latest revelations in this escalating scandal implicating Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in the treasonous 'years-long coup' against President Trump, the public is paying attention and wants heads to roll. According to a Rasmussen poll released Monday, two-thirds of voters (65%) are following declassified releases over the past month by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Sen. Chuck Grassley 'very closely' (32%) or 'somewhat closely' (33%), repudiating the calculated media silence about the Obama administration's fake narratives and manipulation of intelligence to frame Donald Trump as a Kremlin stooge to cover up Hillary Clinton's wrongdoing. The poll of 1,172 likely voters, conducted July 29-31, shows 54% believe Obama administration officials committed serious crimes in 'manipulating intelligence,' with 37% saying it's 'very likely' and 17% saying it's 'somewhat likely.' A staggering 69% agree it is critical that the perpetrators be held accountable 'for the survival of our country.' Dems interested too Even more disturbing for Democrats is that it's not just Republicans who are concerned. The poll shows 56% of Democrats are following the investigation, 32% believe serious crimes were committed and 59% agree the perpetrators must be 'held accountable.' The respective Republican comparison is 75%, 83% and 86%. Hispanics are more cynical about the scandal than either black or white voters, with 66% saying serious crimes were committed and 74% wanting accountability, compared to 51% and 65% respectively for blacks, and 53% and 69% respectively for whites. Men are more concerned than women, with 74% vs. 59% following the revelations closely; 60% vs. 49% believing there is serious criminality; and 72% vs. 66% favoring accountability. It's a demonstration of the impotence of Democrat-allied media, like The New York Times, Washington Post, ABC, NBC and CBS, who showered themselves with praise and Pulitzer Prizes for their since-debunked stories about Russiagate and are hoping their audience is willing to be duped again. But like the boy who cried wolf, no one is listening anymore. According to Gabbard's office, ABC, CBS and NBC spent a total of 2,284 minutes covering Russiagate, yet they have devoted only 2 minutes and 17 seconds on the disclosures of the last couple of weeks. Even when they mention the story, it's to try to debunk it. Obama administration CIA Director John Brennan and DNI James Clapper and Hillary Clinton lawyer Marc Elias have fanned out across their favorite media outlets desperately trying to extinguish public interest. 'I am imploring, like honestly, I'm just imploring the media, do not report this as a legitimate investigation,' Elias told MSNBC. 'Do not report this as 'They are opening an investigation into John Brennan' . . . Report this as the misuse, the abuse, the authoritarian takeover of the Department of Justice. That should be the headline.' Hah! Too bad for Elias, it's no longer 2016. The public — and Donald Trump — are wiser and more determined to put heads on pikes. The renewed scrutiny of the 'Obama administration's conspiracy to subvert Trump's 2016 victory and presidency,' as Gabbard puts it, began early last month, when CIA Director John Ratcliffe released a bombshell review of the Intelligence Community Assessment, ordered by Obama on Dec. 9, 2016, that falsely claimed Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election to help Trump. The review found Brennan, Clapper and then-FBI Director James Comey were 'excessively involved' in the ICA drafting, rushed its completion before Trump took office and forced the inclusion of the discredited Steele dossier, over the objections of the CIA's Russia experts, suggesting a 'potential political motive.' 'Treasonous conspiracy' That ICA was the genesis of Russiagate, casting doubt over the legitimacy of Trump's 2016 election and sabotaging his first term, with Obama the 'ringleader,' says Trump, and Democrat-allied media was crucial to its success. Every week, Post columnist Miranda Devine sits down for exclusive and candid conversations with the most influential disruptors in Washington. Subscribe here! What followed Ratcliffe's bombshell was a systematic release by Gabbard and Grassley of evidence that exposed the Obama and Biden administrations' weaponization of law enforcement and intelligence agencies against Trump. July 18: Gabbard releases a declassified report that finds that at a meeting in the Oval Office on Dec 9, 2016, Obama directed top national security officials, including Clapper, Brennan, Comey, Andrew McCabe, Susan Rice, John Kerry, Loretta Lynch and Avril Haines, to create a new intelligence assessment saying Russians meddled in the election on behalf of Trump, contradicting multiple intelligence assessments to the contrary released previously. Gabbard describes the plot as a 'treasonous conspiracy by officials at the highest levels of the Obama White House to subvert the will of the American people and try to usurp the President from fulfilling his mandate.' July 23: Gabbard holds a press conference at the White House to announce that she has sent criminal referrals to the DOJ and FBI implicating Obama and his national security team in 'seditious conspiracy.' She alleges Brennan suppressed intelligence showing Russia was not favoring Trump. She also releases a declassified House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence report that had been withheld even from the committee. It shows that in September 2016, Russia's foreign intelligence service had obtained DNC emails showing Clinton was suffering from 'intensified psycho-emotional' and physical problems. Russian spies also had a Clinton campaign email discussing a plan to tie Trump to Putin to distract Americans from Hillary's email-server scandal. July 30: Brennan and Clapper write an op-ed in The New York Times branding as 'patently false' allegations from Gabbard and Ratcliffe 'that senior officials of the Obama administration manufactured politicized intelligence, silenced intelligence professionals and engaged in a broad 'treasonous conspiracy' to undermine the presidency of Donald Trump.' Gabbard responds by releasing a whistleblower's account detailing the pressure applied to him to agree to a bogus assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump. 'I was pressured to alter my views,' the intelligence analyst-turned whistleblower claimed. Keep up with today's most important news Stay up on the very latest with Evening Update. Thanks for signing up! Enter your email address Please provide a valid email address. By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Never miss a story. Check out more newsletters His boss told him in January 2017: 'There is reporting you are not allowed to see, if you saw it, you would agree . . . Isn't it possible Putin has something on Trump, to blackmail and coerce him? . . . You need to TRUST ME on this.' The whistleblower tried repeatedly to report his concerns about the fraudulent ICA to multiple government officials, including the inspector general for the intelligence community and former special counsel John Durham, but was rebuffed and ignored. 'Consequences' 'There must be consequences,' White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo on Sunday. 'Because, if we have a country where we can continue to have FBI careerists and CIA careerists, deep staters, who will fabricate and doctor evidence . . . to try to go after their political enemies, up to and including the president, if we continue to create the impression and the reality that there is not a criminal, a severe criminal penalty for such conduct, it will never stop,' he said. Yes, this is not about looking in the rearview mirror or pursuing petty vendettas, as Trump critics say. It's about holding the coup-plotters accountable as a deterrent, restoring the integrity of our intelligence and law enforcement institutions and righting a historic wrong committed against the American people.
The Hill
4 hours ago
- The Hill
Ukrainian drone attack sets Russian oil depot on fire as Zelenskyy announces prisoner exchange
An overnight Ukrainian drone attack on an oil depot near Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi sparked a major fire, Russian officials said Sunday, as the two countries traded strikes and the Ukrainian president announced a prisoner exchange. More than 120 firefighters attempted to extinguish the blaze, which was caused by debris from a downed drone striking a fuel tank, Krasnodar regional Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev said on Telegram. Videos on social media appeared to show huge pillars of smoke billowing above the oil depot. Russia's civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, temporarily stopped flights at Sochi's airport. Farther north, authorities in the Voronezh region reported that four people were wounded in another Ukrainian drone strike. Russia's Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 93 Ukrainian drones over Russia and the Black Sea overnight into Sunday. Meanwhile, in southern Ukraine, a Russian missile strike hit a residential area in the city of Mykolaiv, according to the State Emergency Services, wounding seven people. The Ukrainian air force said Sunday Russia launched 76 drones and seven missiles against Ukraine. It said 60 drones and one missile were intercepted, but 16 others and six missiles hit targets across eight locations. The reciprocal attacks came at the end of one of the deadliest weeks in Ukraine in recent months, after a Russian drone and missile attack on Thursday killed 31 people, including five children, and wounded over 150. The continued attacks come after U.S. President Donald Trump last week gave Russian President Vladimir Putin a shorter deadline — Aug. 8 — for peace efforts to make progress. Trump has threatened to impose new economic sanctions on Russia if progress is not made, while expressing doubt about how effective they would be. 'You know, they're wily characters, and they're pretty good at avoiding sanctions, so we'll see what happens,' Trump said Sunday evening of the Russians. He said his special envoy Steve Witkoff may travel to Russia on Wednesday or Thursday, the final days before his new deadline. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Ukraine and Russia have agreed to exchange 1,200 prisoners following their latest round of negotiations in Istanbul in July. 'There is an agreement to exchange 1,200 people,' he wrote on X, saying that the lists of individuals to be swapped were being worked on and that they were working to 'unblock the return of our civilians.' There was no immediate comment from Russia. Zelenskyy also said he discussed with top Ukrainian officials 'the negotiation track – specifically, the implementation of the agreements reached during the meetings with the Russian side in Istanbul, as well as preparations for a new meeting.' Each of the three rounds of talks between the countries this year has resulted in prisoner exchanges but yielded no breakthrough in reaching a ceasefire.
New York Post
10 hours ago
- New York Post
Ukrainian officials arrested in ‘large scale' drone bribery scheme
At least four Ukrainian officials have been arrested in a 'large-scale corruption scheme' involving the purchase of drones designed to defend Kyiv against Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky said. Just three days after Zelensky restored the independence of Ukrainian's top anti-corruption agencies following fierce public backlash, the prez said the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti-corruption Prosecutor's Office unveiled a plot by a sitting lawmaker, two local officials and several national guard service members to skim money meant to defend their nation. 'The essence of the scheme was to conclude state contracts with supplier companies at deliberately inflated prices,' the agencies added Saturday in a statement, noting the kickbacks to the officials were up to 30% of the contracts' inflated costs. Advertisement 4 At least four Ukrainian officials were arrested in an alleged kickback scheme involving the government's purchase of drones. Getty Images 4 The charges came days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (center) and lawmakers were pressured to restore the independence of Kyiv's top two anti-corruption agencies. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE/AFP via Getty Images The plot involved heads of district and city military civil administrations who allegedly helped cook the books on the purchases of drones and electronic jamming equipment — vital tools used to intercept the ever-escalating bombardments from Ukraine's Russian invaders. Drones have proven to be key to Ukraine's attacks on Moscow, too, with the majority of Ukrainian attacks on Russian military assets involving UAVs, including a recent overnight strike on an oil depot. Advertisement 'Unfortunately, these corruption schemes involved the procurement of electronic warfare systems and FPV drones. … There must be full and fair accountability for this,' Zelensky said on social media. 'There can only be zero tolerance for corruption. Clear teamwork to expose corruption and, as a result, a just sentence,' he said. 4 The scheme involved a Ukrainian lawmaker, two local officials and National Guard Service members, authorities said. REUTERS Advertisement While Ukrainian officials did not name the suspects in the case, the president said four people have been arrested so far. Ukraine's Interior Ministry added that the National Guard personnel implicated in the scheme were removed from their positions as the prosecutor's office moves forward with the case. The arrests come after the independence of NABU and SAPO were secured Thursday following nationwide protests over Zelensky ratifying a bill that would have put a political appointee in charge of the agencies. 4 The procurement of the jamming equipment used to defend Ukraine from Russia's ever-escalating missile and drone attacks also was involved in the bribery plot. via REUTERS Advertisement While Zelensky initially defended the move as a means to weed out Russian influence in the agencies, he later agreed to let the agencies operate as they were. NABU and SAPO were born following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity in 2014, which called for a major clean up of Kyiv after ousting pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych, whose administration was marred in corruption. The agencies have previously targeted some of Zelensky's close allies, including former Deputy Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov, with the cases often causing major shakeups in Kyiv while its leadership tries to focus on the war. Critics have warned Zelensky that ongoing corruption undermines Ukraine's ability to fight back against Russia, as well as threatens the country's hopes of joining the European Union. With Post wires
