site.btaUPDATED Bulgaria Marks Aviation and Air Force Day

Bulgaria is marking Aviation and Air Force Day with a traditional wreath-laying ritual at the Monument to the Pilot in Sofia on Wednesday. The day commemorates the first reconnaissance flight in combat conditions in Bulgarian and European history, which took place on October 16,1912, during the First Balkan War (1912-1913).

Attending the ceremony were President Rumen Radev, Defence Minister Atanas Zapryanov, the Air Force Commander, Major General Dimitar Petrov, servicepersons and members of the public. Wreaths and flowers were laid on behalf of the President, the National Assembly Chair, the Defence Minister, the Chief of Defence, the Sofia Mayor, the Commander of the Joint Forces Command, the Air Force Command, the Commander of the Land Forces and members of the public.

President Radev thanked all Air Force personnel for defending the country's sovereignty and standing by the people at times of crisis. He said this year Bulgaria is marking Aviation and Air Force Day while mourning two pilots who perished in a crash on September 13. In his words, the day was marred by the tragic death of the two pilots of an L-39ZA trainer aircraft, Petko Dimitrov and Ventsislav Dunkin.

Radev, who is Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and a former Air Force commander, declined to comment on theories about the crash before all the facts were known. At Tuesday's news conference, the Defence Ministry was very clear that the direct cause had been established, but that particular probe was not intended to name the culprit, he said. Meanwhile, the prosecution service and an appointed committee are working on a comprehensive probe into flights organization in the Air Force. Attempts to name people responsible for the crash, political interference, and calls for resignations are unethical and immoral, to say the least, the President also said.

On Tuesday, Col. Petko Vassilev of the Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation Unit of the Military Police Department, said the main cause of the crash of the L-39ZA combat trainer was the taking of an unjustifiably high risk when performing complex aerial aerobatics.

Talking to reporters on Wednesday, Radev said it should be clear that flights, especially in fighter aviation, are a high-risk and extremely complex activity. He expects the committee appointed by the Defence Ministry to thoroughly analyse not just the organization and preparation of flights, but the match between the level of capabilities according to the regulatory documents and the NATO Capability Targets on the one hand, and their comprehensive provision on the other. Radev also expects responsibility to be established all the way up the chain of command, including the Defence Staff and the Ministry of Defence. The parliamentary Defence Committee should also conduct a probe into this case, Radev said.

The Air Force pilots' flight experience is very insufficient, the President said, adding, "I hope that the F-16 fighter jets will come with the relevant regulatory documents, which require a different standard of flight experience. We cannot expect complex tasks to be performed without providing the conditions for pilots and commanders."