1. Mathias Rust was born on 1 June 1968 and is a German aviator known for his flight that ended with a landing near Red Square in Moscow on 28 May 1987.
25 Facts About Mathias Rust
1. 2.
Mathias Rust landed on Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge, next to Red Square near the Kremlin in the capital of the USSR.
3.
Mathias Rust was sentenced to four years in a general-regime labour camp for violation of border crossing and air traffic regulations, and for provoking an emergency situation upon his landing.
4.
Mathias Rust, aged 18, was an inexperienced pilot, with about 50 hours of flying experience at the time of his flight.
5.
On 13 May 1987, Mathias Rust left Uetersen Airport, near Hamburg and his home town Wedel, in his rented Reims Cessna F172P, registration D-ECJB, which was modified by removing some of the seats and replacing them with auxiliary fuel tanks.
6.
Mathias Rust spent the next two weeks travelling across northern Europe, visiting the Faroe Islands, spending a week in Iceland, and then visiting Bergen on his way back.
7.
Mathias Rust was later quoted as saying that he had the idea of attempting to reach Moscow even before the departure, and he considered the journey to Iceland as a method of testing his piloting skills.
8.
Mathias Rust told air traffic control that he was going to Stockholm, and took off at 12:21.
9.
Mathias Rust disappeared from the Finnish air traffic radar near Espoo.
10.
Mathias Rust crossed the Baltic coastline over Estonia and turned towards Moscow.
11.
Mathias Rust, flying a slow propeller-driven aircraft, was confused with one of the helicopters participating with the operation.
12.
Mathias Rust was detected several more times and given false friendly recognition twice.
13.
Mathias Rust was considered as a domestic training airplane defying regulations, and was assigned the least priority by air defense.
14.
Mathias Rust initially intended to land in the Kremlin, but he reasoned that landing inside, hidden by the Kremlin walls, would have allowed the KGB to arrest him and deny the incident.
15.
Mathias Rust was sentenced to four years in a general-regime labour camp for hooliganism, for disregard of aviation laws, and for breaching the Soviet border.
16.
Mathias Rust was never transferred to a labour camp, and instead served his time at the high security Lefortovo temporary detention facility in Moscow.
17.
Two months later, Reagan and Gorbachev agreed to sign a treaty to eliminate intermediate-range nuclear weapons in Europe, and the Supreme Soviet ordered Mathias Rust to be released in August 1988 as a goodwill gesture to the West.
18.
Mathias Rust reported that he had been treated well in the Soviet prison.
19.
Mathias Rust's rented Reims Cessna F172P, registered D-ECJB, was sold to Japan where it was exhibited for several years.
20.
On 24 November 1989, while doing his obligatory community service as an orderly in a West German hospital, Mathias Rust stabbed a female co-worker who had "apparently rejected him".
21.
Mathias Rust was sentenced to two and a half years in prison, but was released after 15 months.
22.
In 2009, Mathias Rust described himself as a professional poker player.
23.
Mathias Rust said he had plans to open a yoga school in Hamburg.
24.
Mathias Rust opined that institutional failures in Western countries to preserve moral standards and democratic ideals were creating mistrust between peoples and governments.
25.
Mathias Rust claimed: "Governments have been dominated by the corporate entities and citizens have ceased to matter in public policy".