U.S. Air Force pilot explains what Prevents Fighter Pilots from Defecting with Their Planes

The only thing preventing it is patriotism, which for the Soviet Union, didn’t run very high.

In 1976 I was a pilot in the Presidential Wing at Andrews AFB, in Washington, DC. Our wing had three Russian-speaking pilots attached, who would fly out to meet Soviet airliners that were bringing dignitaries to Andrews.

Back then, to enter U.S. airspace, and especially to fly so close to Congress and the White House, we required them to have a Russian-speaking USAF pilot on their jump seat.

When Viktor Belenko defected with his MiG-25 Foxbat, it was only natural that he and the plane would end up at Andrews eventually.
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