Yesterday afternoon, a Soviet-made MiG-29 fighter plane crashed after an aborted landing near Kecskemét. Fortunately, the pilot escaped with minor injuries, but this was the third MiG crash in the past ten years, signaling a slow transition away from the Soviet-made planes in favor the new and fantastic and perhaps illegally purchased Swedish-made Gripen fighters.

According to the Wikipedia's article on the Hungarian Air Force, there were 11 MiG-29s in service. Or after yesterday's crash, there are now 10. Apparently there have been enough MiG incidents, however, that the last time one crashed, a local said "Only an exploding MiG can make such a dreadful noise." What does it say when a man hearing an explosion can just go "ahh, must be another MiG…"

This doesn't bode well for the Hungarian defense forces, especially considering that for the previous 500 years, Hungary's history has been one of invasions, not successfully repelling them. On the other hand, we're guessing developments in pitchfork technology can at least keep the nuttier folks from the neighboring countries away.