Editing Mathias Rust (section)

==Moscow flight==
[[File:Flugroute von Mathias Rust-en.svg|thumb|Flight path.]]
Rust, aged 18, was an inexperienced pilot, with about 50 hours of flying experience at the time of his flight. On 13 May 1987, Rust left [[Uetersen Airport]], near [[Hamburg]] and his home town [[Wedel]], in his rented [[Cessna 172|Reims Cessna F172P]], [[Aircraft registration|registration]] D-ECJB, which was modified by removing some of the seats and replacing them with auxiliary fuel tanks. He 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. He 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 (where he visited [[Hofdi House]], the site of [[Reykjavík Summit|unsuccessful talks]] between the USA's and USSR's governments during October 1986) as a method of testing his piloting skills.<ref name="airspacemag" />

On 28 May 1987, Rust refuelled at [[Helsinki-Malmi Airport]]. He told [[air traffic control]] that he was going to [[Stockholm]], and took off at 12:21. Immediately after his final communication with traffic control, he turned his plane to the east near [[Nummela (Vihti)|Nummela]], [[Vihti]]. Air traffic controllers tried to contact him as he was moving around the busy Helsinki–Moscow route, but Rust had turned off all his communications equipment.<ref name="airspacemag"/><ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.coptercrazy.scsuk.net/production/rcessna/172/f172-42.htm |title = Listing of Production Reims F172|access-date = 23 December 2007|last = coptercrazy|date = n.d.|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20050314122837/http://www.coptercrazy.scsuk.net/production/rcessna/172/f172-42.htm |archive-date = 14 March 2005}}</ref>

Rust disappeared from the Finnish air traffic radar near [[Espoo]].<ref name="airspacemag"/> Control personnel presumed an emergency and a rescue effort was organized, including a [[Finnish Border Guard]] patrol boat. They found an oil patch near [[Sipoo]] where Rust had disappeared from radar observation, and conducted an underwater search but did not find anything.

Rust crossed the [[Baltic Sea|Baltic]] coastline over Estonia and turned towards Moscow. At 14:29 he appeared on [[Soviet Air Defence Forces]] (PVO) radar and, after failure to reply to an Identification Friend or Foe ([[Identification friend or foe|IFF]]) signal, was assigned combat number 8255. Three [[surface-to-air missile]] battalions of [[54th Air Defense Corps|54th Air Defence Corps]] tracked him for some time, but failed to obtain permission to launch missiles at him.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.gazeta.ru/army/2017/05/28/10696505.shtml|script-title=ru:Руста прикрыли облака|last=Khodarenok|first=Mikhail|date=28 May 2017|work=Gazeta.ru|access-date=25 November 2017|language=ru|trans-title=Rust hidden by clouds}}</ref> All air defences were readied and two [[Interceptor aircraft|interceptors]] were sent to investigate. At 14:48, near [[Gdov]], [[Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23|MiG-23]] pilot [[Senior Lieutenant]] A. Puchnin observed a white sport airplane similar to a [[Yakovlev Yak-12]] and asked for permission to engage, but was denied.<ref name="airspacemag"/><ref name="Nezavisimaya">{{cite web |last1=Kraskovsky |first1=Voltaire Makarovich |title=Нарушитель стал "своим" (The Intruder Became "His") |url=http://nvo.ng.ru/history/2001-04-06/5_infringer.html |website=Nezavisimaya Gazeta |access-date=6 May 2020}}</ref>

The fighters lost contact with Rust soon after this. While they were being directed back to him, he disappeared from radar near [[Staraya Russa]]. West German magazine ''[[Bunte]]'' speculated that he might have landed there for some time, noting that he changed his clothes during his flight and that he took too much time to fly to Moscow considering his airplane's speed and the weather conditions.

Air defence re-established contact with Rust's plane several times but confusion resulted from all of these events. The PVO system had shortly before been divided into several districts, which simplified management but created additional work 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 [[Identification friend or foe|IFF]] designator settings, local control officers assigned all traffic in the area friendly status, including Rust.<ref name="airspacemag"/>

Near [[Torzhok]], there was a similar situation, as increased air traffic was created by a search and rescue operation. Rust, flying a slow propeller-driven aircraft, was confused with one of the helicopters participating with the operation. He was detected several more times and given false friendly recognition twice. Rust was considered as a domestic training airplane defying regulations, and was assigned the least priority by air defense.<ref name="airspacemag"/>

Around 19:00, Rust appeared above Moscow. He had initially intended to land in the [[Moscow Kremlin|Kremlin]], but he reasoned that landing inside, hidden by the Kremlin walls, would have allowed the [[KGB]] to arrest him and deny the incident. Therefore, he changed his landing place to [[Red Square]].<ref name="airspacemag"/> Dense 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 [[Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge]] by [[St. Basil's Cathedral]]. A later inquiry found that [[trolleybus]] wires normally strung over the bridge—which would have prevented his landing there—had been removed for maintenance that morning, and were replaced the next day.<ref name="airspacemag"/> After taxiing past the cathedral, he stopped about {{convert|100|m}} from the square, where he was greeted by curious passersby and asked for autographs.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Teenage Pilot Who Could Have Caused a Global Crisis|url=https://time.com/3889327/drones-mathias-rust-red-square/|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=28 May 2015}}</ref> When asked where he was from, he replied "Germany" making the bystanders think he was from [[East Germany]]; but when he said [[West Germany]], they were surprised.<ref name=FAZ/> A British doctor videotaped Rust circling over Red Square and landing on the bridge.<ref name=FAZ/> Rust was arrested two hours later.<ref>{{cite news |last=Rehrmann |first=Marc-Oliver |date=26 June 2009 |title=Der Kremlflieger Mathias Rust kehrt zurück |trans-title=The Kremlin Flyer Mathias Rust returns |url=http://www.ndr.de/geschichte/mathiasrust2.html |language=de |location=[[Hamburg]] |publisher=[[Norddeutscher Rundfunk]] |access-date=17 March 2014}}</ref>