The date was January 22, 2019. It was a freezing night in Murmansk, a Russian region deep within the Arctic Circle. Over the snowy scenery, a Soviet-era Tu-22M3 supersonic bomber flew back to base after an undisclosed training operation. A wide variety of training exercises are conducted by the Russian Air Force every day. Most result in a safe return and landing. But on that winter night, a sequence of ill-fated events created the perfect storm for a catastrophic accident. As the aircraft descended into an approach and landing position, the entire military base was abruptly overrun by a dense blizzard. In a split second, the pilot found himself within a white curtain with zero visibility. The runway disappeared in front of his eyes. Unable to locate the airstrip for a safe landing, the pilot and crew decided to quickly eject the jet before impact. But the ejection systems failed to deploy.Below, standing near the snow-covered airstrip, a soldier recorded a video of what he expected to be a safe routine landing even if the weather conditions were not optimal. He continued to capture the expanding snowstorm waiting for the moment when the Tu-22M3 would emerge from within the icy clouds. The sounds from the forthcoming jet started to grow louder. Suddenly, the lights of the plane can be seen approaching within the whiteout. The aircraft is coming in too fast and not at the right angle for a safe landing. The soldier recording the event shouts surprised as he notices the speed at which the aircraft is coming in. Inside the aircraft, the crew attempted to perform an emergency landing after they failed to eject. Blinded by the blizzard, the pilot tried to calculate the position of the runway. Still, as the plane cleared the blizzard, he realized the ground was much closer than expected.The soldier’s handheld camera started to shake as the aircraft emerged from the blizzard. The jet touched down with twice the force it was built to endure… In that second, the plane broke in half in front of the recording camera.