2024-09-14 01:34:36
- Three casualties in three years in the Air Force, our pilots continue to fly dangerously little
- Dunkin and Dimitrov’s crashed plane returned from repairs in June of this year
“I cried when I learned what happened to them both. How long will pilots die?”. This question was asked by a military pilot to a “24 Hours” reporter. His words came after Senior Lieutenant Vencislav Dunkin and Major Petko Dimitrov died in a flight at Graf Ignatievo Air Base on Friday.
Their L-39ZA “Albatross” plane crashed in front of dozens of witnesses about an hour after President Rumen Radev flew an F-16 over the air base. On Friday, a dress rehearsal was taking place in Graf Ignatievo for the air show, which was supposed to take place on Saturday, but was canceled due to the incident.
Television operators and photographers who came for Radev’s flight managed to film the crash of Dunkin and Dimitrov. The military’s first order of business, however, was to get them to delete the photos and videos, even though they
they could also be used for the crash investigation
The Ministry of Defense initially announced that Dunkin and Dimitrov were piloting a “military transport aircraft” L-39 ZA. However, these types of machines are training jets, the kind pilots are actually trained on before they board a fighter jet. They are of Czech production and have been in service with our army since 1994. Unofficially, it is known that the military has about 6 serviceable units, some of them were recently repaired in the Czech Republic.
The crashed plane was returned to Bulgaria after repairs on June 24 of this year.
“The plane took off technically upright. Yes, it has been renovated. We can no longer comment, because the Military Prosecutor’s Office is already located in the base,” Defense Minister Atanas Zapryanov said on Friday. He had been at the airbase since early dawn to oversee training. An hour after the incident happened, acting Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev arrived at the scene.
The flight was planned and routine, performed many times, and the two pilots had been preparing for it for months.
“This task was performed many times in the Lower Metropolis (the two pilots served at this airbase – b.r.) and today was to be performed as a dress rehearsal for tomorrow’s event. Major Dimitrov is one of the most experienced L-39 pilots in Bulgaria in general, and Lt. Lieut. Dunkin is young, with excellent abilities and was one of the hopes of the base”, said Gen. Dimitar Petrov, flight director and commander of the Air Force.
When asked if he would resign, he replied: “I lost one of my best friends.
Do you think I’m a bit chastened by what happened? What do you expect from me?”
The reasons for the accident are yet to be clarified. The Military Prosecutor’s Office is at the head of the investigation. After the accident, they announced that an inspection of the accident site, identification and questioning of witnesses, as well as all officials involved in the planning, implementation of the training flight, and the maintenance of the aircraft and ground equipment, are to come. All documentation surrounding the case will also be seized. The appointment of numerous expertises is also pending.
Two versions are being investigated – a technical malfunction or a pilot error, Defense Minister Atanas Zapryanov announced in the evening.
The unofficial version of the crash, which appeared among military aviators, is that the command post ordered Dunkin and Dimitrov to make several spectacular maneuvers and then land. At one of them
the plane ended up in a nearby forest
The pilots did not have time to react, as they were flying at a low altitude. The catapult had not worked.
The reason is not in the catapult at all, as claimed, but in the lack of reaction time, however, other pilots claim. They are shocked by yet another tragedy and describe the two pilots as exceptional professionals. The senior lieutenant was soon to be married, and the major was an instructor and was known among his colleagues as a great person (see further below).
“Aren’t you going to remove this leadership of the Air Force headed by the chief of defense and the highest. They don’t fit!!! How many more victims???”, reacted after the incident on Facebook Dimitrina Popova, the widow of Lt. Valentin Terziev, who died on June 9, 2021 during an exercise near Shabla. With him and the two pilots who crashed on Friday, the Air Force has lost three combat pilots during exercises in 3 years.
Valentin Terziev’s MiG-29 fighter jet crashed into the sea after hitting a released target that was too low. In this case, too, the pilot was forced to complete a task at a dangerous altitude, and the black box recordings showed that none of his supervisors forbade him to complete the task after it became clear that Terziev was too low over the sea.
The investigation into his death continues to this day. Investigators say the cause of the tragedy was an optical illusion called “enchantment.” It occurs when the pilot concentrates all his attention on only one object. However, “incorrect risk assessment by the combat control group and the fire management” was also cited as one of the reasons.
Two military personnel were charged with causing death due to negligence – Colonel Metodi Orlov, who was responsible for shooting the pilots during the exercise, and Colonel Yuriy Lukanov – Deputy Chief of Staff of the Air Force for Operations.
However, Terziev’s widow announced that Orlov would be acquitted even before this happened because he was accused of responsibilities that were not his. She insists that the Air Force commander, Gen., is responsible for her husband’s death. Dimitar Petrov, his deputy Petyo Mirchev, the head of the Graf Ignatievo Air Base, Gen. Nikolai Rusev and Col. Yuri Lukanov.
The last publicly known incident in the military took place in 2022. On September 28, a Su-25 fighter-bomber lost control during a landing approach and crashed near the Bezmer airbase. The pilot, senior officer Peyo Donchev, managed to eject from a low height. Later, however, he was accused of violating specific rules of piloting technique while performing a pair flight and landing combat exercise as the second aircraft (lead) and allowing the aircraft he was piloting to enter a vortex formed by the pilot’s aircraft air satellite track.
Accidents with military aircraft were 33 in the past year 2023 alone.
Five of them were defined as “serious”, but none were the result of human error, the report on the state of the armed forces for the past year found.
Our pilots do not fly enough because of the “limited number of malfunctioning equipment”, the military also signaled in its report. “Flexible planning” and “efficient use of available resources” covered 71% of the number of flight hours planned for the year.
Terziev also had few hours, it became clear during the investigation of this accident. The pilot, although first class, had only 12 hours and 50 minutes of flying time from early 2021 until the June 9 crash. For his entire career of 23 years in the Air Force, Terziev has accumulated only 709 hours in the air in the MiG-29, which is about 30 hours a year, according to what was announced by then Minister of Defense Georgi Panayotov and Chief of Defense Admiral Emil Eftimov in the days after the crash of the fighter in the Black Sea.
For comparison, the norm for a NATO pilot is 180 flight hours per year.
“Born to fly or die trying”, Vencislav Dunkin was preparing a wedding in a week
He and his fiancee were expecting their first child
The 28-year-old senior lieutenant Vencislav Dunkin, who died in the crash of the training fighter, was preparing to have a wedding next Saturday, September 21. She should have been in his native Razlog.
Recently, Dunkin and his beloved, who is from Pleven, were in Razlog precisely because of the latest clarifications regarding the wedding celebration. The two were also expecting their first child. Both Dunkin and his beloved lived in Pleven, because the pilot served in Dolna Metropolia.
The father of the 28-year-old pilot is a police officer, and his mother works in a large supermarket in the city. His brother Slavcho, two years older, also graduated from the air force school in Dolna Mitropolia, and now pilots a helicopter in the Border Police.
“Be proud to be Bulgarians!” is Dunkin’s latest Facebook post. It was released for the national holiday of March 3.
“Born to fly or die trying” is the motto posted on his Facebook profile.
Ventsislav Dunkin is a fighter pilot since 2015, an instructor and one of the hopes of Dolna Metropolia. He graduated from VVU “Georgi Benkovski” in 2020.
The other pilot who died was Major Petko Dimitrov, 51, who, like Dunkin, was an instructor. His colleagues describe him as a great professional and person.
Major Dimitrov worked in the position of head of the “Planning and reporting of flight activity” service in the “Flight-Tactical Training” department in military formation 52 090-Dolna Mitropolia. He was a family man.
According to a statement released by the Ministry of Defense, Dunkin and Dimitrov were the two most experienced pilots of the L-39ZA training aircraft.
Peevski wants the resignations of the heads of the Air Force and the base
“Commanding Air Force Gen. Dimitar Petrov and the head of the “Graf Ignatievo” airbase, Gen. Nikolay Rusev to resign immediately!” This was requested by the chairman of the DPS Delyan Peevski.
“They must take responsibility for the tragedy, and the competent investigative bodies must establish the causes of this serious accident and the culprits to arrive at the tragic accident and the loss of human lives,” said Peevski.
“The conclusion of these 4 years is complete disintegration and chaos. Was that the most important thing today, before it was known if the pilots were alive – to erase your records, to silence your voice?” With these words, GERB leader Boyko Borisov addressed the media. “I think I’ve seen these pilots too. If memory serves, F-16 pilot training now is 10 million a year, $5 million. Such money is invested in the Air Force. There is a song that respects those officers who do not build their careers on the backs of soldiers, but those who bring the soldiers back alive”, commented Borisov.
He reminded that in his government the defense budget was BGN 3.6 million. “And one “Panther” fell in the naval exercises. How many cases have there been? I’m angry, but I know how much we’ve done in this area. All over the world, an awful lot of money is currently being invested in defense,” said Borisov.
“I hope that this time those responsible for the accident will be punished according to the full weight of the law”, commented the interim chairman of the BSP Atanas Zafirov. And he called on politicians to work together for the modernization of the Air Force, because the lives of our airmen are already at stake.