Yak-38 accidents, serviceability and withdrawal

The reported service record totals eleven accidents and thirteen deaths across thirteen years and 71,733 flights. Two accidents involved test pilots and nine involved operational pilots. An accident at Saki airfield on 25 June 1991 is associated with the end of operations, alongside the wider political upheaval affecting the Soviet Union. Average aircraft serviceability is estimated here at about 68 percent, compared with reported figures of 70 percent. Aircraft usually achieved roughly twenty-three flight hours between failures. Those figures suggest useful availability for the period despite the aircraft's mechanical problems.