On August 13, 1912, the first flight of a Bulgarian military plane over Sofia was made. Simeon Petrov became the first Bulgarian pilot to fly an airplane owned by Bulgaria.
In 1912, after a competition, Lieutenant Petrov, together with Hristo Toprakchiev and Nikifor Bogdanov, were sent to Louis Bleriot's pilot training school in Etampes near Paris. They left by train on April 9. During his training, Petrov proposed and, accompanied by Louis Bleriot, carried out the first night flight in the history of France.
During one of his last flights over Etampes airport, Petrov climbed to an altitude of 1400 m when the engine of his plane “Bleriot XI” was damaged and stopped working. Subsequently, Petrov, together with Toprakchiev, developed a methodology for landing aircraft with the engine stopped, which was adopted in the pilot training program at Bleriot's school.
The three Bulgarian pilots managed to complete the course in just 35 days and, after an exam before a special committee of the French aero club, received their licenses on July 25, 1912. They were among the first 1,000 pilots in the world - their licenses were numbered 949, 950 and 951, respectively.
On August 7, 1912, the first "Bleriot-XI" aircraft with a 70 hp "Gnome" engine arrived at Sofia station. On August 13, Simeon Petrov tested it in the air. Sofia residents immediately set off on a spontaneous demonstration.