Mig-31 flight performance

[sicsok]

Traitor or defctor or any other name calling... One fact: None of you have been in his shoes, and nowhere near can one say he could not fly well.
That's is the real point, I never liked inquisitors. Opinionated cheap think to play a judge without any credentials. To the sideliners however nothing is too expensive...if it is not themselves they talk about.

[Carlo]

I don't think a defector was necessarily a traitor. I believe each person has the right to live wherever he wants, and the Soviet system denied this (and many other liberties). But to take to another country one of the most important components of its defense (like the MiG-25P in the mid 70's), and take it to a potencial enemy, is to be a traitor.
If you read the Pravda.ru article they say also basically this: if Belenko wanted, he could have ejected over Japan and let his MiG-25P crash. He would be in the free world and not much harm would have been done to the Soviet defense.

[sicsok]

Yes, he almost HAD TO eject...(had a few seconds' worth of fuel left after landing). But then he would have proven that he is not such a good pilot as he indeed was (at least on the Foxbat).