The Sukhoi T-50 PAK FA's aborted takeoff yesterday was caused by a flameout in the right-hand (starboard) engine built by Russian jet engine-maker Saturn. It turns out the jet that suffered the flameout was, T-50-2 (Side 52), the second of two PAK FA test jets built so far. T-50-2 was built to test out the actual mission systems of the stealthy fighter while its older sibling, T-50-1, was built to test the actual airframe. However, T-50-2 was grounded in early April and didn't resume flying until about two weeks ago. Who knows what the cause of the grounding was and if it was linked to a reportedly new type of thrust-vectoring engine rumored to be planned for use in the jet.
T-50-2's pilot had to slam on the brakes and deploy the braking parachute after two bursts of flame shot from the right engine as the aircraft was headed down the runway at roughly 60 mph.
