From 1952 to 1991, 134 accidents occurred in the Bulgarian Air Force, in which the pilots died and the planes were completely destroyed. Only in 1973, 1984 and 1990 there was no accident This shows statistics from 2021 of BTA. In June 2021 – The MiG-29 lost radio contact and disappeared from radar over the waters of the Black Sea near Shabla. A tactical exercise with live fire "Shabla 21" was held there. The pilot Valentin Terziev died. Two pilots have now died after an L-39 ZA military training aircraft crashed in the area of the Third Air Base known as "Graf Ignatievo" while performing a complex maneuver at extremely low altitude. They are 51-year-old Major Petko Dimitrov and 28-year-old Senior Lieutenant Vencislav Dunkin. What could have led to the accident… Captain Todor Penev - former pilot, instructor and aviation expert - spoke to FACTS.
- Captain Penev, we witnessed another incident with a downed military plane. Now this happened on the base in “Graf Ignatievo“. How do you see the case, what could have happened?
- We are worried, I am talking about the people in combat and civil aviation, because every case with a dead person is something very scary. We are talking about the subject with many colleagues in aviation. Including, we hear from former ministers of defense who know very well that they themselves are to blame. We can't help but be worried. The pilots themselves in combat aviation are also worried, because they themselves go up - almost, only with the fear of flying. We have a very low level of training, there is no resource for them, no fuel, they are not motivated and with their salaries… What more can we say. Also, nobody cares about NATO for our country. NATO is sitting on the sidelines watching us. That's how I see it. NATO knows very well what our problems are, but they let us have some F-16s come here after I don't know how many years. Everyone feels and sees what is happening in our Air Force. Aviation is not just a thing, it is a matter of daily work. We keep talking about the F-16, that we will replace the current planes with them. And until it's time to change them if someone gets sick. Who will teach our pilots, when will the new planes come, will we just put them on the F-16… This is absolute short-sightedness. Vizirm all the politicians who deal with the subject. And another thing. The generals who are currently accusing them and demanding their resignations have made a bunch of reports to the politicians. What can they do besides write reports? Yes, they can do as Rumen Radev resigned - for one year twice, as a sign of disagreement. In 2014, Radev clearly said that he did not want to “play this game”. Even then, Rumen Radev said that our Air Force had reached the bottom.
- In your opinion, what could be the reasons for the accident against the background of the video that appeared and this absolutely unnatural flight in the last meters that we see?
- In my opinion, we have a 100% lack of experience to get out of any situation that has arisen. I assume that now through the objective control it will become clear what commands are given, whether there is a problem with the navigation equipment, which is possibly related - if there is one, to the management of the thrusts that control the ailerons - horizontal and vertical. If there is a refusal with them, kel faida that they are instructors, since they have no management. But then they would have to eject. The objective control will also show what was the minimum height required to complete the given figure and whether this was violated. If this condition is violated, everything else is pointless to talk about.
- But we are still talking about people with experience. Somehow it sounds strange…
- My colleagues and I also commented on the fact that the altitude of “Dolna Mitropolia”, from where they took off, and “Graf Ignatievo” may not have been compared. If they forgot to adjust the altimeter, it is to their advantage, because “Count Ignatievo“ is at a lower altitude. They simply take off from one airport and go to another, but in this case they earn a 50 meter difference in plus. Then they stick to the plan to start the figure at a certain height, and that won't be fatal. But if they started the figure from a much lower height than what is set in the exercise, it is already a gross mistake. Small errors already lead to the overload of the plane in a loop, as we can see. Instead of reversing the loop and continuing, they reverse it to make a figure eight or “cubine” as they say. In this period of between 2 and 4 seconds they had time to jump, which is also training. If they do the altitude figures, as they do and we all did it - in the 3000-5000 meter zone, it is normal to hold the plane, increase the speed, get out of the figure. But they are at an extremely low altitude, and a decision is made in one second – you either jump or wait to gain height for the next figure. If there is a refusal in the management, it is different. But what we discussed with colleagues is a possible error in their piloting – one, and the second, is entering the figure itself from a minimum height. There is also the possibility of failure of aviation equipment combined with insufficient training to deal with the situation. Everything else we speak as preparation is clear. By now everyone has seen the statistics that were brought out. And it shows that our military pilots have a 4 or 5 times lower level of training if we compare them to their counterparts from other NATO countries. Then what are our pilots for anyway.
- And we get to talking about training and flying hours in the air again…
- I deal only with training and training of pilots in civil aviation. I value them as preparation and opportunities. I can see very clearly those who don't fly regularly, who have big breaks, how they need a much longer training program because they can't cope. We continue the program, extend the sessions if they can pay for them, if not - they burn. A week ago, I terminated the program for the firing of a captain who was not a Bulgarian citizen. There is no place in aviation for pilots who are insufficiently trained to handle non-standard situations.