Mathias Rust
Encyclopedia
Mathias Rust is a German
aviator
known for his illegal landing on May 28, 1987 near Red Square
in Moscow
. As an amateur pilot, he flew from Finland
to Moscow, being tracked several times by Soviet air defence and interceptors. The Soviet fighters never received permission to shoot him down, and several times he was mistaken for a friendly aircraft. He landed on Vasilevski Spusk next to Red Square near the Kremlin
in the capital of the USSR.
Rust's intentions, as he stated, were to create an "imaginary bridge" to the East, and he has claimed that his flight was intended to reduce tension and suspicion between the two Cold War
sides. Rust's successful flight through a supposedly impregnable air defense system had a great impact on the Soviet military and led to the firing of many senior officers, including Defence Minister Marshal of the Soviet Union Sergei Sokolov and the head of the Soviet Air Defense, former WWII fighter ace pilot Chief Marshal Alexander Koldunov. The incident aided Mikhail Gorbachev
in the implementation of his reforms
(by removing numerous military officials opposed to him), and reduced the prestige of the Soviet military among the population, thus helping bring an end to the Cold War
.
near Hamburg
and his home town Wedel
in his rented Reims Cessna F172P
D-ECJB, which was modified by removing some of the seats and replacing them with auxiliary fuel tanks. He spent the next two weeks traveling across Northern Europe, visiting the Faroe islands
, spending a week in Iceland
, and then visiting Bergen
on his way back. He was later quoted as saying that he had the idea of the attempt to reach Moscow even before the departure, and he saw the trip to Iceland (where he visited Hofdi House, the site of unsuccessful talks
between the United States and the Soviet Union in October 1986) as a way to test his piloting skills.
In the morning of May 28, 1987, Rust refueled at Helsinki-Malmi Airport
. He told air traffic control
that he was going to Stockholm
, but right after his final communication with traffic control he turned his plane to the east. Air traffic controllers tried to contact him as he was moving around the busy Helsinki–Moscow route, but Rust turned off all communications equipment aboard.
Rust disappeared from the Finnish air traffic control radar near Sipoo
. Air traffic control presumed an emergency, and a rescue effort was organized, including a Finnish Border Guard
patrol boat. They found an oil patch near the place where Rust disappeared from radar and performed an underwater search with no results. Rust was later fined about US$100,000 for this effort. The origin of the oil patch remains unknown.
In the meantime, Rust crossed the Baltic
coastline in Estonia
and turned towards Moscow
. At 14:29 he appeared on air defense radar and, after failure to reply to an IFF
signal, was assigned combat number 8255. Three SAM
divisions tracked him for some time, but failed to obtain permission to launch at him. All air defenses were brought to readiness and two interceptors
were sent to investigate. At 14:48 near the city of Gdov
one of the pilots observed a white sport plane similar to a Yakovlev Yak-12
and asked for permission to engage, but was denied.
Soon after, the fighters lost contact with Rust, and while they were directed back to him, he disappeared from radar near Staraya Russa
. The then-West German magazine Bunte
speculated that he might have landed there for some time, citing that he changed his clothes somewhere during his flight, and that he took too much time to fly to Moscow considering his plane's speed and weather conditions.
Air defense re-established contact with Rust's plane several times, but confusion followed all of these events. The PVO system had shortly before been divided into several districts, which simplified management but created additional overhead for tracking officers at the districts' borders. The local air regiment near Pskov
was on maneuvers, and, due to inexperienced pilots' tendency to forget correct IFF
designator settings, local control officers assigned all traffic in the area friendly status, including Rust.
Near Torzhok
there was a similar situation, as increased air traffic was created by a rescue effort for an air crash that had happened the previous day. Rust, flying a slow propeller-driven aircraft, was confused with one of the helicopters taking part in the rescue. Afterwards, he was spotted several more times, but given false friendly recognition twice; he was considered as a domestic training plane defying regulations, and was issued least priority.
Around 7:00 p.m. Rust appeared above Moscow's center. He had initially intended to land in the Kremlin
, but changed his mind: he reasoned that landing inside, hidden by the Kremlin walls, would have allowed the KGB to simply arrest him and deny the incident. Therefore, he changed his landing spot to Red Square
. Heavy pedestrian traffic did not allow him to land there either, so after circling about the square one more time, he was able to land on a bridge by St. Basil's Cathedral. A later inquiry found that numerous wires normally strung over the bridge – which would have incidentally prevented his landing there – had been removed for maintenance that very morning, and were replaced the day after. After taxiing past the cathedral he stopped about 100 meters from the square, where he was greeted by curious passersby. He was arrested afterwards.
started in Moscow on September 2, 1987. He was sentenced to four years in a general-regime labor camp for hooliganism
, disregard of aviation law
s and breaching of the Soviet border. However, he was never transferred to a labor camp and instead served his time at the high security Lefortovo
temporary detention facility in Moscow. Two months after Reagan and Gorbachev agreed to sign a treaty to eliminate intermediate-range nuclear weapons in Europe, the Supreme Soviet ordered Rust released as a goodwill gesture to the west. He returned to West Germany
on 3 August 1988.
William E. Odom
, former director of the U.S. National Security Agency
and author of The Collapse of the Soviet Military, says that Rust’s flight irreparably damaged the reputation of the Soviet military. This enabled Gorbachev to remove many of the strongest opponents to his reforms. The defense minister Sergei Sokolov and the air defense chief Alexander Koldunov were fired along with hundreds of other officers. This was the biggest turnover in the Soviet military since Stalin’s purges fifty years earlier.
In 2008 Rust's rented Reims Cessna F172P, D-ECJB, was returned to Germany from where it had turned up in Japan and was placed in the Deutsches Technikmuseum, Berlin
.
) in a West German hospital in 1989, Rust stabbed a female co-worker who had rejected him. The injuries were life-threatening and he was sentenced to four years in prison for attempted manslaughter and was released after having served fifteen months.
In 1996, he became engaged to a daughter of an India
n tea merchant
and converted to Hinduism
. In 2001, he was convicted for stealing a cashmere
pullover and ordered to pay DM 10,000; the sentence was later reduced to 600 marks. In 2005, he was convicted of fraud and had to pay €1,500 for stolen goods. In 2009 Rust described himself as a professional poker
player.
Very soon after the incident, SubLogic
, the original publishers of the Flight Simulator
franchise, issued a scenery disk that expanded the original program's coverage area to include Eastern Europe. A challenge in the program was to land in Red Square as Rust had just done.
The American band Wampeters included a song on their Hey Judas CD that celebrates Rust as a "hero or a scourge."
Estonian President Lennart Meri
named his wolfhound in honor of Rust.
The final track of the 2004 album La Increíble Aventura (The Incredible Adventure) by Spanish
band Migala
is called "Lecciones de Vuelo con Mathias Rust" ("Flying Lessons With Mathias Rust").
The 2008 Norwegian film
The Man Who Loved Yngve features the fictional punk rock
Mathias Rust Band, headed by the character Jarle Klepp. The band is actually composed of songwriters John Erik Kaada and Geir Zahl
from Kaizers Orchestra
, along with the screenwriter and author of the novel the film
is based on, Tore Renberg
.
The Washington Post
and Bild both have online editions of their interviews. The most comprehensive video interview online is produced by The Danish Broadcasting Corporation
. In their interview Rust in Red Square, recorded in May 2007, Rust gives a full account of the flight in English.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
aviator
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
known for his illegal landing on May 28, 1987 near Red Square
Red Square
Red Square is a city square in Moscow, Russia. The square separates the Kremlin, the former royal citadel and currently the official residence of the President of Russia, from a historic merchant quarter known as Kitai-gorod...
in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
. As an amateur pilot, he flew from Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
to Moscow, being tracked several times by Soviet air defence and interceptors. The Soviet fighters never received permission to shoot him down, and several times he was mistaken for a friendly aircraft. He landed on Vasilevski Spusk next to Red Square near the Kremlin
Moscow Kremlin
The Moscow Kremlin , sometimes referred to as simply The Kremlin, is a historic fortified complex at the heart of Moscow, overlooking the Moskva River , Saint Basil's Cathedral and Red Square and the Alexander Garden...
in the capital of the USSR.
Rust's intentions, as he stated, were to create an "imaginary bridge" to the East, and he has claimed that his flight was intended to reduce tension and suspicion between the two Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
sides. Rust's successful flight through a supposedly impregnable air defense system had a great impact on the Soviet military and led to the firing of many senior officers, including Defence Minister Marshal of the Soviet Union Sergei Sokolov and the head of the Soviet Air Defense, former WWII fighter ace pilot Chief Marshal Alexander Koldunov. The incident aided Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
in the implementation of his reforms
Perestroika
Perestroika was a political movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1980s, widely associated with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev...
(by removing numerous military officials opposed to him), and reduced the prestige of the Soviet military among the population, thus helping bring an end to the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
.
Flight profile
Prior to his flight, Rust was an inexperienced pilot, aged 18, and with about 50 hours of flying experience. On May 13, 1987, Rust left UetersenUetersen Airport
The Uetersen Airport is located near the town of Uetersen in Pinneberg district in the commune of care. With 60,000 aircraft movements per year it is one of the most frequented airports in Germany....
near Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
and his home town Wedel
Wedel
Wedel is a town in the district of Pinneberg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Elbe, approximately south of Elmshorn, and mile, west of Hamburg.-Foundation and Middle Ages:...
in his rented Reims Cessna F172P
Cessna 172
The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is a four-seat, single-engine, high-wing fixed-wing aircraft. First flown in 1955 and still in production, more Cessna 172s have been built than any other aircraft.-Design and development:...
D-ECJB, which was modified by removing some of the seats and replacing them with auxiliary fuel tanks. He spent the next two weeks traveling across Northern Europe, visiting the Faroe islands
Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands are an island group situated between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately halfway between Scotland and Iceland. The Faroe Islands are a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, along with Denmark proper and Greenland...
, spending a week in Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
, and then visiting Bergen
Bergen
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....
on his way back. He was later quoted as saying that he had the idea of the attempt to reach Moscow even before the departure, and he saw the trip to Iceland (where he visited Hofdi House, the site of unsuccessful talks
Reykjavik Summit
The Reykjavík Summit was a summit meeting between U.S. president Ronald Reagan and Secretary-General of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev, held in the famous house of Höfði in Reykjavík, the capital city of Iceland, on October 11–12, 1986...
between the United States and the Soviet Union in October 1986) as a way to test his piloting skills.
In the morning of May 28, 1987, Rust refueled at Helsinki-Malmi Airport
Helsinki-Malmi Airport
Helsinki-Malmi Airport is an airport in the city of Helsinki, Finland, located in the district of Malmi, north north-east of the city centre. Until the opening of the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport in 1952 it was the main airport of Helsinki and all Finland. Today, the airport is still actively used in...
. He told air traffic control
Air traffic control
Air traffic control is a service provided by ground-based controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and in the air. The primary purpose of ATC systems worldwide is to separate aircraft to prevent collisions, to organize and expedite the flow of traffic, and to provide information and other...
that he was going to Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, but right after his final communication with traffic control he turned his plane to the east. Air traffic controllers tried to contact him as he was moving around the busy Helsinki–Moscow route, but Rust turned off all communications equipment aboard.
Rust disappeared from the Finnish air traffic control radar near Sipoo
Sipoo
Sipoo is a municipality of Finland. Its seat is in Nikkilä/Nickby.It is the eastern neighbour of Helsinki and is located in the Uusimaa region. The municipality has a population of and covers an area of ofwhich is water...
. Air traffic control presumed an emergency, and a rescue effort was organized, including a Finnish Border Guard
Finnish Border Guard
The Finnish Border guard is the national security agency responsible for enforcing the security of Finland's borders...
patrol boat. They found an oil patch near the place where Rust disappeared from radar and performed an underwater search with no results. Rust was later fined about US$100,000 for this effort. The origin of the oil patch remains unknown.
In the meantime, Rust crossed the Baltic
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
coastline in Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
and turned towards Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
. At 14:29 he appeared on air defense radar and, after failure to reply to an IFF
Identification friend or foe
In telecommunications, identification, friend or foe is an identification system designed for command and control. It is a system that enables military and national interrogation systems to identify aircraft, vehicles, or forces as friendly and to determine their bearing and range from the...
signal, was assigned combat number 8255. Three SAM
Surface-to-air missile
A surface-to-air missile or ground-to-air missile is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles...
divisions tracked him for some time, but failed to obtain permission to launch at him. All air defenses were brought to readiness and two interceptors
Interceptor aircraft
An interceptor aircraft is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically to prevent missions of enemy aircraft, particularly bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Interceptors generally rely on high speed and powerful armament in order to complete their mission as quickly as possible and set up...
were sent to investigate. At 14:48 near the city of Gdov
Gdov
Gdov is a town and the administrative center of Gdovsky District of Pskov Oblast, Russia, situated on the Gdovka River, just from its outflow into Lake Peipus. Population:...
one of the pilots observed a white sport plane similar to a Yakovlev Yak-12
Yakovlev Yak-12
The Yakovlev Yak-12 is a light multirole STOL aircraft used by the Soviet Air Force, Soviet civilian aviation and other countries from 1947 onwards.-Design and development:...
and asked for permission to engage, but was denied.
Soon after, the fighters lost contact with Rust, and while they were directed back to him, he disappeared from radar near Staraya Russa
Staraya Russa
Staraya Russa is a town in Novgorod Oblast, Russia, located south of Veliky Novgorod. It is a wharf on the Polist River in the Lake Ilmen basin. It serves as the administrative center of Starorussky District, although administratively it is not a part of it...
. The then-West German magazine Bunte
Bunte
Bunte is a German weekly magazine; coverage includes celebrity, gossip, news and lifestyle matters. It is published by Bunte Entertainment Verlag GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hubert Burda Media....
speculated that he might have landed there for some time, citing that he changed his clothes somewhere during his flight, and that he took too much time to fly to Moscow considering his plane's speed and weather conditions.
Air defense re-established contact with Rust's plane several times, but confusion followed all of these events. The PVO system had shortly before been divided into several districts, which simplified management but created additional overhead for tracking officers at the districts' borders. The local air regiment near Pskov
Pskov
Pskov is an ancient city and the administrative center of Pskov Oblast, Russia, located in the northwest of Russia about east from the Estonian border, on the Velikaya River. Population: -Early history:...
was on maneuvers, and, due to inexperienced pilots' tendency to forget correct IFF
Identification friend or foe
In telecommunications, identification, friend or foe is an identification system designed for command and control. It is a system that enables military and national interrogation systems to identify aircraft, vehicles, or forces as friendly and to determine their bearing and range from the...
designator settings, local control officers assigned all traffic in the area friendly status, including Rust.
Near Torzhok
Torzhok
Torzhok is a town in Tver Oblast, Russia, famous for its folk craft of goldwork embroidery. Population: Torzhok has twenty-two large and medium-sized industrial enterprises. Two of them are especially significant...
there was a similar situation, as increased air traffic was created by a rescue effort for an air crash that had happened the previous day. Rust, flying a slow propeller-driven aircraft, was confused with one of the helicopters taking part in the rescue. Afterwards, he was spotted several more times, but given false friendly recognition twice; he was considered as a domestic training plane defying regulations, and was issued least priority.
Around 7:00 p.m. Rust appeared above Moscow's center. He had initially intended to land in the Kremlin
Moscow Kremlin
The Moscow Kremlin , sometimes referred to as simply The Kremlin, is a historic fortified complex at the heart of Moscow, overlooking the Moskva River , Saint Basil's Cathedral and Red Square and the Alexander Garden...
, but changed his mind: he reasoned that landing inside, hidden by the Kremlin walls, would have allowed the KGB to simply arrest him and deny the incident. Therefore, he changed his landing spot to Red Square
Red Square
Red Square is a city square in Moscow, Russia. The square separates the Kremlin, the former royal citadel and currently the official residence of the President of Russia, from a historic merchant quarter known as Kitai-gorod...
. Heavy pedestrian traffic did not allow him to land there either, so after circling about the square one more time, he was able to land on a bridge by St. Basil's Cathedral. A later inquiry found that numerous wires normally strung over the bridge – which would have incidentally prevented his landing there – had been removed for maintenance that very morning, and were replaced the day after. After taxiing past the cathedral he stopped about 100 meters from the square, where he was greeted by curious passersby. He was arrested afterwards.
Aftermath
Rust's trialTrial (law)
In law, a trial is when parties to a dispute come together to present information in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court...
started in Moscow on September 2, 1987. He was sentenced to four years in a general-regime labor camp for hooliganism
Hooliganism
Hooliganism refers to unruly, destructive, aggressive and bullying behaviour. Such behaviour is commonly associated with sports fans. The term can also apply to general rowdy behaviour and vandalism, often under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs....
, disregard of aviation law
Aviation law
Aviation law is the branch of law that concerns flight, air travel, and associated legal and business concerns. Some of its area of concern overlaps that of admiralty law and in many cases, aviation law is considered a matter of international law due to the nature of air travel. However, the...
s and breaching of the Soviet border. However, he was never transferred to a labor camp and instead served his time at the high security Lefortovo
Lefortovo prison
Lefortovo prison is a prison in Moscow, Russia, which, since 2005, has been under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation. It was built in 1881...
temporary detention facility in Moscow. Two months after Reagan and Gorbachev agreed to sign a treaty to eliminate intermediate-range nuclear weapons in Europe, the Supreme Soviet ordered Rust released as a goodwill gesture to the west. He returned to West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
on 3 August 1988.
William E. Odom
William Eldridge Odom
William Eldridge Odom was a retired U.S. Army 3-star general, and former Director of the NSA under President Ronald Reagan, which culminated a 31 year career in military intelligence, mainly specializing in matters relating to the Soviet Union...
, former director of the U.S. National Security Agency
National Security Agency
The National Security Agency/Central Security Service is a cryptologic intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the collection and analysis of foreign communications and foreign signals intelligence, as well as protecting U.S...
and author of The Collapse of the Soviet Military, says that Rust’s flight irreparably damaged the reputation of the Soviet military. This enabled Gorbachev to remove many of the strongest opponents to his reforms. The defense minister Sergei Sokolov and the air defense chief Alexander Koldunov were fired along with hundreds of other officers. This was the biggest turnover in the Soviet military since Stalin’s purges fifty years earlier.
In 2008 Rust's rented Reims Cessna F172P, D-ECJB, was returned to Germany from where it had turned up in Japan and was placed in the Deutsches Technikmuseum, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
.
Later life
While doing his obligatory community service (ZivildienstZivildienst
Zivildienst is the civilian branch of the national service systems in Austria and Switzerland. In Germany as well Zivildienst was the alternative service to military service until suspension of conscription in 2011...
) in a West German hospital in 1989, Rust stabbed a female co-worker who had rejected him. The injuries were life-threatening and he was sentenced to four years in prison for attempted manslaughter and was released after having served fifteen months.
In 1996, he became engaged to a daughter of an India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n tea merchant
Merchant
A merchant is a businessperson who trades in commodities that were produced by others, in order to earn a profit.Merchants can be one of two types:# A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant...
and converted to Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
. In 2001, he was convicted for stealing a cashmere
Cashmere
Cashmere may refer to:* Cashmere wool, wool from the Cashmere goatPlaces* Another term for Kashmir, a region of the Indian subcontinent* Cashmere, New Zealand, a suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand* Cashmere, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Australia...
pullover and ordered to pay DM 10,000; the sentence was later reduced to 600 marks. In 2005, he was convicted of fraud and had to pay €1,500 for stolen goods. In 2009 Rust described himself as a professional poker
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
player.
In popular culture
Because Rust's flight seemed to be a blow to the authority of the Soviet regime, it was the source of numerous jokes and urban legends.- For a while after the incident, the Red Square was jokingly referred to by Muscovites as Sheremetyevo-3. (Sheremetyevo-1 and -2 are two major airports near Moscow.)
- At the end of 1987, the police radio codeTen-codeTen-codes, also known as ten signals, are code words used to represent common phrases in voice communication, particularly by law enforcement and in Citizens' Band radio transmissions....
used by law enforcement officers in Moscow was allegedly updated to include a code for an aircraft landing.
Very soon after the incident, SubLogic
Sublogic
Sublogic may refer to:* subLOGIC, a flight simulation company * Sublogic Corporation, a Dutch netlabel...
, the original publishers of the Flight Simulator
Microsoft Flight Simulator
Microsoft Flight Simulator is a series of flight simulator programs for the Microsoft Windows operating system, although it was marketed as a video game. It is one of the longest-running, best-known and most comprehensive home flight simulator series...
franchise, issued a scenery disk that expanded the original program's coverage area to include Eastern Europe. A challenge in the program was to land in Red Square as Rust had just done.
The American band Wampeters included a song on their Hey Judas CD that celebrates Rust as a "hero or a scourge."
Estonian President Lennart Meri
Lennart Meri
Lennart Georg Meri was a writer, film director and statesman who served as the second President of Estonia from 1992 to 2001. Meri was a leader of the Estonian independence movement.-Early life:...
named his wolfhound in honor of Rust.
The final track of the 2004 album La Increíble Aventura (The Incredible Adventure) by Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
band Migala
Migala
Migala was a rock-based experimental band hailing from Madrid, Spain. The band was known for its complex, varied, and often cathartic musical arrangements, heavily influenced by pop, post-rock, folk, and traditional Spanish music....
is called "Lecciones de Vuelo con Mathias Rust" ("Flying Lessons With Mathias Rust").
The 2008 Norwegian film
Cinema of Norway
Norway has had a notable cinema industry for some time. In the early 21st century a few Norwegian film directors have had the opportunity to go to Hollywood to direct various independent films.-1940s:*Tante Pose *Bastard *Tørres Snørtevold...
The Man Who Loved Yngve features the fictional punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
Mathias Rust Band, headed by the character Jarle Klepp. The band is actually composed of songwriters John Erik Kaada and Geir Zahl
Geir Zahl
Geir Zahl is a Norwegian musician. He is known for playing guitar in the Norwegian rock group Kaizers Orchestra. The band was founded by Geir Zahl and Janove Ottesen who had both played together in some other bands, namely Blod, snått & juling and gnom...
from Kaizers Orchestra
Kaizers Orchestra
Kaizers Orchestra is a Norwegian alternative rock group formed on January 1, 2000. The two leading members, vocalist Janove Ottesen and guitarist Geir Zahl, had known each other for years, and first played together in a band called Blod, Snått & Juling in 1989.Kaizers Orchestra are notable for...
, along with the screenwriter and author of the novel the film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
is based on, Tore Renberg
Tore Renberg
Tore Renberg made his literary debut in 1995 with the collection of short prose Sovende floke for which he won the prestigious Tarjei Vesaas' Debutant Prize. Since then he has written several novels and children's books, one collection of prose and made one book of collages...
.
In the media
Following the 20th anniversary of his flight on 28 May 2007, the international media interviewed Rust about the flight and its aftermath.The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
and Bild both have online editions of their interviews. The most comprehensive video interview online is produced by The Danish Broadcasting Corporation
Danmarks Radio
DR – officially rendered into English as the Danish Broadcasting Corporation – is Denmark's national broadcasting corporation. Founded in 1925 as a public-service organization, it is today Denmark's oldest and largest electronic media enterprise...
. In their interview Rust in Red Square, recorded in May 2007, Rust gives a full account of the flight in English.
External links
- Rust in Red Square (English) about the flight and the aftermath. Interview clips are embedded in a flash presentation. (October 2007)
- TV Interview 2007 on YouTube English interview in Danish news cast eng/eng subs (28 May 2007)
- Smithsonian's Air & Space Magazine: "The Notorious Flight of Mathias Rust" Comprehensive article about the flight and the political aftermath in Gorbachev's USSR (1 July 2005)
- Guardian: interview with Mathias Rust
- Where Are They Now?: Mathias Rust
- Photo of Rust's plane, unknown location - posted on a Japanese website.
- The Cessna, registration number D-ECJB on display Deutsches Technikmuseum, Berlin
- Novaya Gazeta: РУСТ — ЭТО ПО-НАШЕМУ
- Washington Post: A Dubious Diplomat Washington Post article on Rust incident, aftermath, and Rust's life today. (27 May 2007)
- Mathias Rust, fly to the heart of USSR, by Jose Antonio Lozano
- Danmarks Radio - "Rust in Red Square" interview, May 2007
- IMDb Entry
