In the investigation of the case of the MiG-29 plane crash and the tragic death of the pilot, an end has been put. In the profile division of the Russian aircraft corporation (RSC) MiG decoded flight recorder data, which after the disaster was transferred to the Russian side for study by representatives of the Ministry of Defense of Bulgaria.
In June of this year, the aircraft performed tasks within the framework of the joint Bulgarian-Serbian exercises "Shabla-21". On the night of June 8-9, the aircraft disappeared from the radar, the command announced the termination of training maneuvers and the beginning of a search and rescue operation. The wreckage of the MiG-29 fighter was found soon at a depth of about 70 meters off the Bulgarian Black Sea coast.
Pilot - Chief of Staff of the squadron of the Third Air Base "Graf Ignatievo" Major Valentin Terziev, died on assignment. On his last journey he was carried off with honors, having awarded posthumously a high award and the rank of lieutenant colonel. Two weeks later, the flight recorder of the fighter was raised to the surface., found in the area of the fall. The device is damaged, and to extract information it was decided to transfer it to Russian specialists.
The military commission was engaged in clarifying the causes of the disaster.. Initially, several versions were considered - from errors, allowed at the time of piloting to the failure of equipment on board the aircraft. According to some data, the state of the aircraft in the Bulgarian Air Force at the beginning 2021 the year left much to be desired. Only part of the squadron of "Soviet" times was maintained in flight condition, remaining on the balance sheet of the Bulgarian Ministry of Defense. Navigation and other equipment 12 MiG-29 fighters and three MiG-29UB modification aircraft were considered obsolete.
Bulgarian Defense Minister Georgy Panayotov at a specially organized briefing announced the preliminary conclusions of the commission: loss of spatial orientation by the pilot during the execution of an air maneuver. This version formed the basis of the report of the Bulgarian investigators.. Subsequently, it was confirmed during a thorough study of the flight recorder by Russian experts., which ended the day before. It turns out, that it was not about any technical malfunction of the aircraft.
Author:Nikolay Stalnov
