Svilen Maximov spoke to NOVA - the pilot who managed to make an emergency landing of a small plane under Vihren Peak and save the lives of all four people on board. The small plane crashed in Pirin after an engine failure on Saturday. After the incident, it was Maximov who was admitted to hospital with minor fractures.
The pilot told in detail how the critical flight came about. He was flying from Petrich to Ruse on Saturday with a group of friends. In the Pirin region, what no pilot wants to see as an indication in the cabin is happening - an engine problem. The plane is rapidly losing altitude. At that moment, Maximov decides to land the plane, even though the terrain does not suggest a safe landing. In the end, the plane landed in the area of "Spano Pole" with minimal damage. The machine is still in the mountains, and the investigation is ongoing.
On Friday, Svilen Maximov boarded his private plane with friends - a Cirrus SR22. The group traveled to Petrich, and on Saturday planned to return to Ruse. It was on the way back, over Pirin, that the plane and the passengers got into trouble.
"Some kind of engine problem arose and the plane lost power. It started to lose altitude quickly. In addition to altitude, it also started to lose speed, I don't know if you know, but when the plane loses speed, it simply crashes, that is, it falls like a pear", said Svilen Maximov, pilot and owner of the crashed plane.
In this critical situation, Maximov has seconds to make decisions. And he chooses the only possible thing - to try to land in the mountains. There are many important factors: “The weight of the plane, the air temperature, the altitude. The pilot does not say: “Oh, God forbid, nothing happens!”. On the contrary. He is obliged to play out all possible unpleasant scenarios“.
There is no time for instructions to the passengers at this moment. “What I told them before takeoff was that I am very strict about seat belts. And in fact, that turned out to be what saved us all“, emphasizes Maximov.
He lands on an extremely small area. “It was meters. Imagine a hard landing with a hit on a rock. I realized that everyone was alive and well. And, of course, that was the best moment. I am living a second life! And I'm grateful!“, the pilot claims.
Two days later, he analyzed what happened. “The biggest reason for the favorable development is, perhaps, that I fly regularly. 80 percent of plane crashes are due to the human factor“.
As for the plane that Maximov flies with - Cirrus SR22, according to him, he has never had a problem with the machine before. “In addition to the airbag, it also has a parachute. Unfortunately, in this case, we were so close to the ground and everything developed so quickly that if we had pulled the parachute, it most likely would not have saved us at all“, the man is categorical.