Commission Findings: High-Risk Decisions Led to Bulgaria's Graf Ignatievo Air Crash

Bulgaria's Ministry of Defense's commission investigating the September 13 aviation accident at Graf Ignatievo Airbase, which resulted in the deaths of Lieutenant Colonel Petko Dimitrov and Captain Vencislav Dunkin, concluded that the pilots took an unreasonably high risk. The accident occurred during a training flight involving an L-39 combat training aircraft as part of an air show marking the 20th anniversary of Bulgaria’s accession to NATO.

The commission’s report detailed that complications arose when the aircraft attempted to maneuver parallel to the runway, reducing its speed below the necessary level for performing a vertical maneuver....