Originally Posted by
Martin the Martian
My sarcasm was too subtle, obviously. Russian interception protocol seems to have nothing to do with safe flying and airmanship, but plenty to do with being absolute cockwombles.
Indeed Martin, but I suspect the Russian chap is under a guidance to give off a rather more anti-social message than that established between the RAF (for example) and the Soviet Union, now some 55 years ago, when a Leuchars based Lightning first came across a Soviet TU-16 over the North Atlantic. Cordiality, that word again, was established and a light mood developed to varying degrees depending on the temperature of the cold war at the particular time, this could on occasion see Soviet TU-95 crews holding up new copies of Playboy/Penthouse etc, or even amended classified NATO documents! Nowadays, I suspect the mood is less agreeable and the Russian SU-27 Jockey miss-judged his "aggressive" pass this time. Putin has a bit of a Bee in his Bonnet with the West generally currently.
FB