site.btaTwo-seater Plane Crashes in Seaside Town of Balchik, Pilot Dies on Spot

Two-seater Plane
Crashes in Seaside Town of Balchik,
Pilot Dies on Spot

Dobrich, Northeastern Bulgaria, August 25 (BTA) - A Cirrus SR22
plane crashed at the Balchik airstrip on Friday evening, the
Transport, IT and Telecommunications Ministry said in a press
release. The plane crashed while landing. It hit the runway,
overturned and erupted in flames. The pilot, a 52-year-old man
from Varna, on the Black Sea, was killed on the spot, the
Dobrich police said.

The plane flew off from the Lesnovo airstrip near Sofia at 17:45
 hrs. local time on Friday and flew at an altitude of 3100 m. At
 18.54 hrs. it approached the Balchik airstrip for landing. The
pilot had established contact with the control tower.

An investigation is underway.

Hristo Hristov, head of the unit for investigation of aviation
accidents with the Transport, IT and Telecommunications
Ministry, said in a TV interview on Saturday that the landing
was rough due to a strong pulsing cross wind which might have
caught the pilot unawares. SN/ZH
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