Communication between the tower and the plane failed in the critical seconds of Count Ignatievo's fatal flight that killed two of our best military pilots in September. This was shown by the recordings of the conversations between the ground control of the flight and the pilots who died.
This was reported by BNT. In the report of the "Military Police" and the Ministry of Defense has read all the information about the fatal flight from the so-called black box.
The critical part of the flight lasted seven seconds. During that time, Petko Dimitrov and Ventsislav Dunkin had to make a decision and take action to get out of the dangerous maneuver in order to save their lives. This is clear from the data that has been read from the black box and the evidence that investigators have collected so far. The report prepared by the "Military Police" and the Ministry of Defense this morning was handed over to the Military District Prosecutor's Office in Plovdiv, reported specially for "Around the world and in our country" the military district prosecutor Major Hristo Anchev. Thus, it will now be possible to appoint the key aero-technical forensic expert, which will answer the most important questions of the investigation.
BNT: What information is contained in this black box?
This black box contains, generally speaking, data on the various parameters of the various aircraft units, speed data, altitude data, it contains a lot of data. But, what is perhaps interesting for the audience, this particular black box does not record the conversations between the pilots, if there were any", explained the Military District Prosecutor of Plovdiv, Major Hristo Anchev.
For the investigators, however, the conversations during the flight itself are of key importance.
"Between the flight controller or the like. "tower" and the pilot conversations are there, as they are recorded separately from the black box. I guess this will be interesting, there already in the "sublime moment", so to speak, no conversations. The decisive seconds are 7. This is the moment when perhaps things become irreversible, but who is to blame for this is yet to be established, said Major Hristo Anchev.
The goal of the investigators is to establish the correctness of the actions of all participants in the flight, both in the plane and on the ground. The entry into the dangerous maneuver and the actions afterwards are carefully analyzed.
BNT: Who should have made the decision to end this maneuver?
The flight controller has the option to stop it. But if he decides that he should not continue, that it is extremely dangerous. And his main task is not that.
BNT: Is it important for you to investigate from these records and side noises, whether someone has not exerted influence, pressure to accept excessive risk?
Yes, this will also be investigated, but in order for everything you are asking about to be clear, the expertise I am telling you about must be prepared," added the military district prosecutor.
The work on the expertise will start already next week. In it, the remains of the crashed plane and the statements of the already questioned over 30 witnesses will be examined in detail.
Part of the military personnel who witnessed the accident will also be questioned before a judge. The crashed L-39 "Albatross" is stored in a special hangar, at the "Graf Ignatievo" airbase, but under permanent security. And the black box found near the wreckage of the plane is kept in another place.
It is important for investigators that conclusions about the technical condition of the aircraft are confirmed by the data in the black box. This necessitated its transportation to the Czech Republic to be strictly guarded.
"And that is why, in my presence and two experts from the Ministry of Defense, it was transported by military plane to the manufacturing company in the Czech Republic, Prague. - Information was downloaded there, successfully," explained the military district prosecutor.
In the same way, it was returned to Bulgaria and was attached as material evidence, so that the objectivity of the data could be checked at any time.
We remind you that a military pilot died during a night exercise with a MiG-29 fighter, which fell on June 9, 2021 in the sea near Shabla. In the case, two servicemen were charged with causing death due to negligence. However, in September of last year, the Military Prosecutor's Office terminated the investigation on the grounds that disciplinary responsibility cannot be sought from Air Force officials due to the statute of limitations.