Dashnor Kaloçi
Memorie.al publishes the unknown story of the pilot Luto Sadiku, a graduate of the military school “Skënderbej” in Tirana and that of the War Aviation in Vlora, who was sent for a specialization in the People’s Republic of China, where he was perfected as a pilot. Reactive “Mig-19”, which at that time were among the most sophisticated in the armies of the most powerful communist countries, such as China, the Soviet Union, etc. The rare testimony of Vasil Mici, a former military fighter of the Air Force, a close friend of Luto Sadiku, regarding the serious event of September 1975 when a great training was taking place, where, while Luto Sadiku was flying at night at altitude 4,000 m., He suffered a severe breakdown, and he managed to escape the plane, landing it on the soft belt, although he had received the final order to jump with a catapult. As well as the next event of March 27, 1982, where Luto tragically lost his life, sunk by the flames of his fighter jet “Mig-21”, a few minutes after taking off on the fighter jet of Gjadri, where the official version , was “from the crash that the plane suffered, after a bird was introduced to the engine.” But unlike the official version, his uncle, Colonel Idriz Seit Sadikaj, says: “Luton was eliminated by the State Security, shortly after my arrest, as ‘enemy of the people and Mehmet Shehu’s closest collaborator’, and the bird in the engine ‘was just a’ legend ‘from what the Security Service often did ”!
“I still remember that morning, March 27, 1982, when the tragic event happened to our colleague, Luto Sadiku, who at that time was the Commissioner of the Regiment at the Gjadri airport. At the time, I was serving as the head of the aviation department, and as I did every morning, I pulled out the rescue vehicle at the end of the runway, as required by the relevant flight instruction manual. Around 8.30 a.m., while I was working with a mechanism somewhere at the beginning of the runway, I heard a plane noise above my head and I immediately looked up and saw a flaming explosion, which was accompanied by a very loud explosive noise. Meanwhile, the plane, which was about 50 meters above the ground, made an irregular landing not on the runway, but on the soft lane, somewhere at the end of it. During that forced landing, that fighter jet walked sliding for about 200 m. and ended up somewhere at the bottom of the runway, in the soft belt. During that slide, one of the wings of the plane broke and ended up with the front embedded in the ground. I immediately took the car and headed for the plane that was at the other end of the runway and as I approached, I called the two villagers who were coming towards us to stop, after the explosions of the war shells that the plane had. ” . The man who speaks and testifies for Memorie.al is Vasil Mici, a former military man at Gjadri Airport who tells the tragic story of his colleague, Luto Sadiku, the Regiment Commissioner, who was burned alive that March morning in 1982. , as he boarded his plane to control the sky, before the flight of his pilot subordinates.
Who was Luto Sadiku, where was he educated and what was his military career, until that fatal day that he lost his life riddled with flames devouring his fighter jet? Why did Luto take off in flight that March morning and what happened to his plane that forced him to make the immediate landing on the soft lane? What other flaws had occurred to him years ago, and how could he have saved the plane by making a forced landing, even though he had received a stern order to jump off a catapult? Regarding these and the tragic event of the pilot Luto Sadiku, his friend and colleague, Vasil Mici, tells for the first time.
Who was Luto Sadiku?
Luto Sadiku was born on February 1, 1944, in the village of Çorush in Mallakastra, where his family originated, one of the most famous in the province. After graduating from the 7-year school in his native village, in 1960, he came to Tirana and enrolled in the Skënderbej military school, with the desire to become an officer, like many others from his family and tribe. . During the period that was Skanderbeg, Luto became active with the youth football team of the “Partizani” team. Regarding this, Vasil Mici recalls: “Luton and I have been together since the school” Skënderbej “. He, since he came in the first year, impressed all of us others, not only for his muscular physique, but also for his talent as a footballer. Based on this, in the first year of school, he was engaged with the youth team of “Partizani”, which at that time had most of the players from the school “Skënderbej”. As a friend, I had the opportunity to watch him in some football matches where he was known for his very strong shots. Some of the coaches of the time, had shown their interest in including Luton in their teams, considering him one of the most talented and promising footballers. But after finishing school, although there were many offers to continue his engagement with football, Luto no longer frequented the green fields, as his passion was aviation “, recalls his former friend Vasili. After graduating from Skënderbej High School in 1964, Luto Sadiku was sent to continue his studies at the High School of the Air Force in Vlora, which he completed in 1966 with high results. , and after being appointed officer, he also took a specialization course in China.
How did you land the plane with a defect?
After returning from China where he specialized in fighter pilots “Mig”, Luto was appointed to the Rinas Regiment. Regarding Luto’s military career as a pilot, his former friend Vasili recalls: “From the beginning of his military career as a pilot, Luto was distinguished by all his colleagues for his great passion and professional correctness at work. He was scrupulous in fulfilling his duties and, as it were, was born for the military. Luto was the first of his classmates to take the helm of the Mig-19 fighter jet. He started his career as an aviator, from a helicopter pilot (old type propeller aircraft) and then with jet aircraft, from “Mig-15” (Russian production) to “Mig-21”. who at the time were among the most sophisticated. One of the most delicate events and moments that happened to Luto Sadiku at that time was that of September 1975, when he made a forced landing with his plane, which caused a great commotion throughout the Air Force. At the time, Luto was serving as a pilot for the Mig-21 fighter jet, and during a large military exercise that took place at night, he was ordered to take to the skies. As he was flying at an altitude of over 4,000 feet [4,000 m], he developed a severe, irreparable defect. Due to the high speed of the plane, it was disconnected from the hermetic seal of the lantern (part of the glass cover or as it is called differently, the lid above the pilot’s head) and as a result, the entire lantern (lid) was detached. from the body of the aircraft and it remained uncovered. This kind of defect was remembered to have occurred only once in the history of our air force, with the pilot Dhimitraq Robo, who was thrown with a catapult but without success…! Knowing the serious flaw, the command tower received an order from the training leaders to communicate with Lutos, to leave the plane immediately and to jump with a catapult. This had to be done because of the high speed of the plane and the lack of lantern that had fallen to the ground, all the air was hitting Lutos directly in the face and with great pressure. In that kind of defect, from high air pressure and low temperatures to that great altitude, the pilot becomes ice and his life is called into question. Based on this, Luto was ordered not to discuss the order anymore, but to leave the plane and jump with a catapult. Catapulting alone could have saved the pilot’s life at that moment. This had to be done, as the flight instruction did not allow the landing without a lantern, and that was not even thought of. Yes, Luto Sadiku did exactly what no one had thought of. He landed the fighter jet without a lantern, in the soft belt of the aerodrome, and when his comrades in the aviation group went, they found him almost in a coma, and frozen. He was only mentioned in the hospital, “Vasil recalled of his former colleague, adding that he did a real miracle by rescuing himself and the plane. At the time, the event caused a stir, and was long remembered by pilots of the Albanian Air Force.
How did the Luto plane crash?
After working for several years in the Rinas Air Fighting Regiment, in 1978, Luto Sadiku was transferred to the Gjadri Regiment. Seeing his high professional training, and exemplary correctness in his work, he was appointed commissioner of that regiment. While serving four years with that aviation regiment, in March 1982, Luto had another crash with his plane, from which he could not escape. Regarding this, his former colleague Vasil Mici says: “I remember that morning of March 27, 1982, when the tragic event with my friend and colleague Luto Sadiku took place. At that time, I was serving as a chief of emergency services at the Gjadri Air Regiment, and as I did every morning, I pulled out the rescue vehicle at the end of the runway, as required by the relevant flight instruction manual. At about 8:30 a.m., while I was working with a mechanism somewhere at the beginning of the runway, I heard a plane crash over my head and I immediately looked up and saw a flaming explosion that was accompanied by a very loud burst of noise. Meanwhile, the plane, which was 50 meters above the ground, made a messy landing, not on the runway, but on the soft lane somewhere at the bottom of it. During that forced landing, that fighter jet flew for about 200 meters and ended up somewhere at the end of the soft belt. During that slide, one of the wings of the plane broke, and he ended up with the front embedded in the ground. I immediately took the crash car and headed in the direction of the plane that was at the other end of the runway, and as I approached a distance of 50 meters, I saw a man with a cockroach, and with a bucket of water, who was trying to extinguished the flames. At that moment, I was stunned by the sound of the first shells exploding inside the plane. At that moment, I turned to the man with the cockpit, (whom I thought was the pilot of the plane), telling him to leave quickly, because the shells would explode from moment to moment. As I hid somewhere in a trench near the runway, a man with a cockroach and a bucket of water in his hand approached me. When I saw him I was shocked because he was not the pilot, as I had thought, but he was a villager living nearby and his son was our colleague. As the peasant was trying to put out the fire, shells exploded, some of which flew over our heads. At that moment, the fire department of our ward came there and with all the other friends, who started to cover the plane with the pressure of the water pipes “, Vasili remembers, the moment of burning his friend and the ward commissioner, Luto Sadiku.
Tragic death, burned by flames
What happened to the plane of Commissioner and pilot Luto Sadiku, and why did it crash that morning in March 1982? In this regard, Vasil Mici recalls: “That morning, Luto was flown to check the sky and the weather, because after him, other pilots would fly that day. But after the plane took off at an altitude of no more than 50 feet [50 m] from the ground, one of the birds that often flew over the runway was introduced into the air ducts. The bird that was introduced inside, hit the air inlet ducts, hit the compressor shovels, and destroyed them. “As a result, the amount of air that went in there was small, and that destroyed the plane’s engine, which Luto no longer had any chance of commanding.” As he recounts the conversation, his friend Vasili gets excited, and recalls other facts about this tragic event. “As the firefighter’s water pressure dropped relentlessly over the plane engulfed in flames, Luto Sadiku, who was inside, pulled one leg out and the rest of the body out. At that moment, we rejoiced because we remembered that he came out alive, but he did not move. Meanwhile, all his friends ran to help him, but he was finished. His mesh clothes were completely burnt and the whole body was still on fire, “recalls tearful Vasil Mici, that tragic event of 1982. The next day, all of Luto’s friends went to his family to offer their condolences. Tirana, where his wife, Rita, was staying with her two young daughters, 9-year-old Gresa and 18-month-old En, who was crying incessantly, looking for their father.
Luto’s uncle: He was killed after I was arrested…
The above-mentioned story by Vasil Mici, a former friend, colleague and colleague of Luto Sadiku who tragically lost his life on March 27, 1982, is also the version shown by all the other fellow colleagues of Luto. So considering that event simply as a tragic accident that came after that technical defect that the plane suffered in its engine, as a bird was introduced there by those who often flew in the sky of that military airfield in the Gjadri field. But unlike them, Luto Sadiku’s uncle, Colonel Idriz Seit Sadikaj, a former senior military official of the Ministry of Interior and State Security from 1945 to 1982, (where he held several senior positions as director) , when he was arrested and sentenced to 15 years in political prison, accused of being “the closest associate of Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu”, rejects the official version that: Luto Sadiku lost his life in a plane crash. In a public testimony in the press about the author of this article, Idriz Seiti, he confessed that the accident where his nephew (brother’s son), Luto Sadiku, lost his life, was plotted by the State Security, by order of “Upstairs”, as: “Luto could no longer stay in that position, when I, his uncle, was arrested and was being punished as an enemy of the people and the closest collaborator of the Prime Minister, Mehmet Shehu!” ‘The bird on the plane’s engine’ was simply a ‘legend’ from what the State Security ‘produced’ not infrequently, where I also served in the highest ranks from 1945 to 1982, to physically eliminate and without noise, people and their cadres, who for one reason or another, could no longer stand on those tasks they had. But even their imprisonment could not be done, as they had been too correct in their duties and affairs, and also loyal to the Party, because that thing, their punishment, would not be easily chewed, as by colleagues and his as well as from the public. This was the case with Major General Hilmi Seiti, Colonel Myslym Keta, and many others before them. And one of them was my nephew, Luto Sadiku “./Memorie.al
Albanian pilots who lost their lives falling on duty
Ibish Vokshi
Qemal Mërtiri
Fuat Sulaj
Islam Xhani
Beir Hila
Islam Beqo
Vasil Trasha
Peço Polena
Hector Lako
Niko Hoxha
Stilian Tanka
Jovan Kaçorri
Kaso Petoshati
Islam Mani
Bego Hoxha
Dhimitër Robo
Luto Sadiku
Hazbi Serani
Sokrat Basha
Sefedin Tomçini
Sabri Toçi
Idriz Hoxha
Veiz Kovaçi
Veledin Resuli
Tafil Aga
Ndue Logu
Vangjel Postoli
Agron Galanxhi
Pandi Xhumba
Enver Haka
Refik Jazo
Muharrem Hida
Jorgji Fane
Jani Tarifa
Vangjel Çondi
Qemal Koni
Demush Heba
