MOSCOW: One pilot died and another broke his spine after two fighter jets collided during aerobatics practice near Moscow ahead of the annual air show, officials said Sunday.

Two of the three crew members on board the two Sukhoi Su-27 fighters managed to eject from the planes before they collided in the accident, which is expected to cast a shadow over the country's annual air show.

"The pilots have ejected. Two of the pilots are in satisfactory condition, one pilot has died," Russian air force spokesman Vladimir Drik said on Russian television.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has expressed condolences to the family of the dead pilot, Igor Tkachenko, a highly-trained professional and commander of the country's celebrated Russian Knights aerobatic team, his office said.

The pilots had been practising aerobatics for a display at the Moscow air show, due to open Tuesday, that Moscow is keen to turn into a leading international commercial aviation event.

The annual event, also designed to showcase Russia's aerial military prowess, has in the past been attended by top military officers and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

One of the two Soviet-era fighters involved in the practices crashed on a residential building in the countryside near Moscow and five people on the ground were injured, some suffering burns, according to a local news agency.

One woman received severe burns covering 80 percent of her body, it added, while NTV television reported that two people had been rushed to intensive care.

One of the two pilots who survived had broken his back in the accident, the news agency said.

"He got caught up in the trees as a result of the fall. The pilot has been hospitalised," the agency cited a police official as saying.

A witness to the crash said on Russian television that a husband and wife had managed to escape when the jet fell on their brand-new house.

"The jet began falling on them. They saw it and ran for their lives. They got caught up in a fire wave," she told a local news channel.

"The woman has been immediately found. Her husband ended up in shock. He wandered away somewhere."

The air show's organisers said the show would open as scheduled, news agencies reported.

Putin said he was "deeply shocked" by the tragedy.

"The death of a pilot of such a high standard is an irreparable loss for Russian and international aviation," Putin said in a telegram to the pilot's parents.

Drik, the Russian air force spokesman, said a commission had been set up to investigate the accident.

A source close to the inquiry told another news agency that it would look at several causes for the crash, ranging "from a collision with a bird to pilot error".

The two black boxes had been found, the news agency said.

Anatoly Kvochur, a top test pilot, said on Russian television the Su-27 was a reliable model, but acknowledged that the Russian fighter jets might have seen better days.

"The jets have been worn out," he said in televised comments. "There have not been new arrivals in a long time."

In a separate accident, a Yak-52 trainer aircraft crashed in central Russia, killing two pilots on board, an emergency situations ministry spokeswoman said Sunday.LINK