Graf Ignatievo crash: military court orders new probe into commanders' role
The Military Court of Appeal has sent the case of the two L-39ZA pilots killed in 2024 back to prosecutors, who must now examine whether commanders at the air base share responsibility.
Symbolic image · Photo: Staff Sgt. Michael R. Holzworth / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain (cropped and resized)
The Military Court of Appeal has ordered the military prosecutor's office in Plovdiv to reopen the investigation into the crash at Graf Ignatievo air base, BNT and Mediapool reported on Sunday. On 13 September 2024 an L-39ZA jet trainer crashed while rehearsing for a display flight, killing both pilots, a lieutenant colonel and a captain. The court found that the investigation had not been comprehensive and that the decision to close it was insufficiently reasoned.
Prosecutors dropped the case in early August, blaming the dead crew commander alone for a series of piloting errors. The Military District Court in Plovdiv upheld that decision, but the families appealed. According to expert findings, the final manoeuvre was flown at 68 metres and 455 km/h, against a prescribed minimum of 200 metres and 620 km/h. The appeal judges now want to know whether superiors at the base, and not only the crew, breached their duties for the safe conduct of the flight. According to Mediapool, the court asks "who, how and why" allowed the deviation from the minimum altitude. The prosecutor had not set out in detail the duties of each officer responsible for directing the flight.