US spy plane gets close call from Sukhoi-27

In a reveral to the Cold War era, an American RC-135 U reconniassance aircraft with 21 data collectors on board was chased by a Russian Sukhoi 27 aircraft that came within 20 ft of menacingly threatening distance of the US aircraft over the Black Sea on January 25. The US personnel were unnerved by the `aggressive manoeuvre' of the Sukhoi jet which earlier flew along the American RC-135 U for some time before flying away. The US statement said: "On January 25, 2016, a US RC-135 U flying a route in international airspace over the Black Sea was intercepted by Russian Su-27 in an unsafe and unprofessional manner. We are looking into this particular incident," Naval Capitan Daniel Hernandez, chief spokesperson for the US European Command, said yesterday. In fact, the Russian jet's thrust `disturbed the controllability' of the US aircraft, as it was turning away. The US claimed its aircraft was flying 40 km away from the coast in international waters when the incident occurred. Back in the Cold War era, the high-flying American U2s would do the reconnaissance flights over Russia. An American pilot was asked to land and taken prisoner before an exchange of prisoners got him released. In a similar incident, a Chinese jet pilot had in fact made faces at an American spy plane pilot not long ago. These are not unusual manoeuvres. But the fact that there were 21 personnel in the US RC-135 U unnerved the Americans.