Pilots to Blame for Air Show Crash: Top Investigator

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, August 08, 2002

Pilots to Blame for Air Show Crash: Top Investigator

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Two Ukrainian pilots are blamed for failing to follow an expected flight plan and causing the worst air show crash that killed 85 people and injured 151, the top investigator of the accident has found.

"The direct reason for the fighter crash was that the pilots violated the flight plan and performed some difficult maneuvers they had not done before," Evhen Marchuk, head of the government commission investigating the air show disaster said on Wednesday.

"But this does not mean that only the pilots are to blame for the tragedy," he added, citing other factors, such as unreasonably small flying zone and inappropriate zoning by the show organizers to allow spectators to gather so close to the flying zone.

The pilots were not given enough time for training, either. he said, adding that one of the pilots, Volodymyr Toponar, had asked for an extra training flight before the show, but was refused.

On June 27, an Su-27 jet fighter was performing a risky maneuver at low altitude when it nicked the ground, sliced into an aircraft on the tarmac and plowed into spectators at the air show in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv.

The two pilots, who ejected before the crash and were being treated in hospital, are facing an inquiry.

According to Interfax-Ukraine, the air force commander, Viktor Strelnykov, and the head of the division, which took part in the air show, had been released for lack of evidence to prove they had been negligent.

Two other military officials, who were also detained after the crash, remain in custody. They have been indicted for "violating aircraft regulations, leading to disaster."

According to the Ukraine news agency, Ukrainian military aircraft have been allowed by President Kuchma to resume regular flights. Following the accident, Kuchma banned military planes from flying at air shows.

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