site.btaDecades of Underfunding in Defence System Lead to Risks of Accidents, Chief of Defence Says

Decades of underfunding in the defence system have led to risks of accidents and air crashes, said Bulgarian Chief of Defence, Admiral Emil Eftimov, said here Tuesday. He was speaking at a news conference where defence officials made public the findings of an audit in the Air Force after an L-39ZA Albatros trainer crashed in September, killing the two pilots on board.

"The Bulgarian Air Force is welcoming the 21st century with two squadrons of L-39 combat trainer aircraft", Eftimov said, adding that it is already clear in the public domain how many training and combat aircraft we have, how this affects the training of young pilots and of instructors. 

He said the transition of the Bulgarian combat aviation from Soviet equipment to Western aircraft has been "an uphill task". He added that the two pilots who died in the incident had ample experience, given the situation in the Bulgarian Air Force.

Eftimov pointed out that the inability to provide sufficient training to pilots remains a persistent problem. "When we submitted the investment schedule to the 50th Parliament, the financial frameworks did not allow us to include a trainer or a trainer aircraft that would largely minimize the risks we are talking about", Eftimov stressed.

Admiral Eftimov also pointed out that the Air Force Command will present a plan for aviation training, which in the future "will minimize the risk, especially among young pilots." 

At a working meeting at the Ministry of Defence earlier on Tuesday, the participants discussed the results of an inspection of the planning, organization, conduct and control of flight training at the Air Force and the Georgi Benkovski Bulgarian Air Force Academy. It was carried out by a working group headed by Deputy Chief of Defence Lieutenant General Tsanko Stoykov. The inspection was appointed by order of caretaker Defence Minister Atanas Zapryanov after the tragic incident.