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Military Helicopter Makes Surprise Landing on Snowy Kazakh Highway

A Mi-8 military helicopter made an unexpected landing on a snowy highway outside a village in Kazakhstan earlier this month, according to 365info.kz, a local news website.

In amatuer video footage captured by a passing driver, the pilot exits his aircraft and runs up to a trucker, apparently asking where he’s landed. After a short exchange, the pilot sprints back to his helicopter and flies away.

According to a statement by Kazakhstan’s Defense Ministry, the military was carrying out training exercises, practicing helicopter landings in rough weather conditions.

“The crew completed a landing exercise on a highway, clarified the location of the nearest population centers, performed a takeoff, and completed the assigned tasks,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

This incident might not sound like much, but take a look at the video and see how intense it was to encounter a military aircraft while driving down the road. A warning to Russian speakers: the narration has loads of swearing.

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