Following the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 incident , Yesayan , alongside another test pilot Magomed Tolboyev , criticized the Russian version about the airliner 's shootdown by a Ukrainian Sukhoi Su-25 aircraft : " Someone , unfamiliar with Su-25 's capabilities and the Boeing-777 aircraft , is trying a PR stunt . This is a natural bluff . ... Su-25 has a maximum airspeed of Mach 0.82 . The Boeing-777 aircraft , which I tested in 1998 in Seattle , flies at Mach 0.83 in a cruise flight . Thus , a Su-25 would not be able to catch up with it at all " . Yesayan also noted that the Su-25 air-to-air missiles are heat-seeking and would strike the engine , while the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 Boeing was damaged on the cockpit side
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17
Ruben Yesayan