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The Sknyliv air show disaster occurred on Saturday, 27 July 2002, when a
Ukrainian Air Force
The Ukrainian Air Force ( uk, Пові́тряні си́ли Збро́йних сил Украї́ни) is the air force of Ukraine and one of the five branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Its headquarters are in the city of Vinnytsia. W ...
Sukhoi Su-27
The Sukhoi Su-27 (russian: Сухой Су-27; NATO reporting name: Flanker) is a Soviet-origin twin-engine supermaneuverable fighter aircraft designed by Sukhoi. It was intended as a direct competitor for the large US fourth-generation jet ...
piloted by Volodymyr Toponar (of the
Ukrainian Falcons
The Ukrainian Falcons (, ) were the aerobatic demonstration team of the Ukrainian Air Force. It was established in 1995 as a team of 6 MiG-29 aircraft (5 MiG-29 9-13s and 1 MiG-29UB) and disbanded in 2002.
Beginnings
Tens of Air show, airshows w ...
) and
co-piloted by Yuriy Yegorov crashed during an
aerobatics
Aerobatics is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in conventional passenger-carrying flights. The term is a portmanteau of "aerial" and "acrobatics". Aerobatics are performed in aeroplanes and glid ...
presentation at
Sknyliv airfield near
Lviv
Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...
, Ukraine. The accident killed 77 people and injured 543, 100 of whom were hospitalized. It is
the deadliest air show accident in history.
Accident
More than 10,000 spectators attended the
air show
An air show (or airshow, air fair, air tattoo) is a public event where aircraft are exhibited.
They often include aerobatics demonstrations, without they are called "static air shows" with aircraft parked on the ground.
The largest air show m ...
, staged to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Ukrainian Air Force's 14th Air Corps.
The Su-27 aircraft was flown by two experienced pilots; it entered a
rolling maneuver at 12:52 p.m. with a downward trajectory at low altitude. It rolled upright once more and was still descending rapidly when the left wing dropped shortly before it hit the ground, at which point the crew initiated
ejection. The aircraft flattened out initially, skidding over the ground towards stationary aircraft and striking a glancing blow against the nose of an
Ilyushin Il-76
The Ilyushin Il-76 (russian: Илью́шин Ил-76; NATO reporting name: Candid) is a multi-purpose, fixed-wing, four-engine turbofan strategic airlifter designed by the Soviet Union's Ilyushin design bureau. It was first planned as a comm ...
transport aircraft, before beginning to explode and cartwheel into the crowd of spectators.
Both pilots survived with minor injuries, while 77 spectators were killed, including 28 children. Another 100 were hospitalized for head injuries, burns, and bone fractures.
Other injuries were less severe and did not require hospitalization. A total of 543 people were injured in the accident.
Following the disaster, the pilots stated that the
flight map which they had received differed from the actual layout. On the
cockpit voice recorder
A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to as a "black box", an outdated name which has b ...
, one pilot asks, "And where are our spectators?".
Others have suggested that the pilots were slow to react to automated warnings issued by the
flight computer
A flight computer is a form of circular slide rule used in aviation and one of a very few analog computers in widespread use in the 21st century. Sometimes it is called by the make or model name like E6B, CR, CRP-5 or in German, as the ''Dreieckrec ...
.
Aftermath
Ukrainian President
The president of Ukraine ( uk, Президент України, Prezydent Ukrainy) is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, condu ...
Leonid Kuchma
Leonid Danylovych Kuchma ( uk, Леоні́д Дани́лович Ку́чма; born 9 August 1938) is a Ukrainian politician who was the second president of Ukraine from 19 July 1994 to 23 January 2005. Kuchma's presidency saw numerous corrup ...
publicly blamed the military for the disaster and dismissed the head of the air force, General Viktor Strelnykov.
Minister of Defense
A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...
Volodymyr Shkidchenko
Volodymyr Petrovych Shkidchenko ( uk, Володимир Петрович Шкідченко; born January 1, 1948, Chita, Zabaykalsky Krai, Russia) is a Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something re ...
offered his resignation, but Kuchma rejected it.
On 24 June 2005, a
military court
A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...
sentenced pilot Volodymyr Toponar and co-pilot Yuriy Yegorov to fourteen and eight years in prison, respectively. The court found the two pilots and three other military officials guilty of failing to follow orders,
negligence
Negligence (Lat. ''negligentia'') is a failure to exercise appropriate and/or ethical ruled care expected to be exercised amongst specified circumstances. The area of tort law known as ''negligence'' involves harm caused by failing to act as a ...
, and violating flight rules. Two of the three officials were sentenced to up to six years in prison; the third received up to four years. Toponar was ordered to pay
₴7.2 million (
US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
1.42 million;
€
The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...
1.18 million) in compensation to the families, and Yegorov ₴2.5 million. The crew's main flight trainer was
acquitted
In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal certifies that the accused is free from the charge of an offense, as far as criminal law is concerned. The finality of an acquittal is dependent on the jurisdiction. In some countries, such as the ...
for lack of evidence.
[''CNN news report, 24 June 2005''](_blank)
(after the verdict)
After the verdict was announced, Toponar said that he planned to
appeal
In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...
, insisting that the crash was due to
technical problems and a faulty flight plan. Yegorov was released in 2008 after President
Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko ( uk, Віктор Андрійович Ющенко, ; born 23 February 1954) is a Ukrainian politician who was the third president of Ukraine from 23 January 2005 to 25 February 2010.
As an informal leader of th ...
issued a decree reducing his sentence to three and a half years.
The pilots were assigned the majority of the blame, which included accusations of attempting maneuvers with which they were not experienced. Toponar had requested an additional training flight at the airfield where the display was to be performed, but the request was denied.
Near the end of his prison term, Toponar reasserted his innocence in a phone interview. "From the mission briefing it is obvious that the flight area parameters we were given significantly exceeded the safe margin of separation from spectators. What happened is the fault of organizers. Planes must not fly over spectators. During the show, I had to make several advanced maneuvers in a few minutes. During the half-barrel, I noticed decreased thrust of both engines and the airspeed fell. But the cause remains unknown! Ground control ordered us to continue the flight. During the last maneuver—an oblique loop with a turn—the plane became uncontrollable. During the trial they said it was caused by
pilot error
Pilot error generally refers to an Aviation accidents and incidents, accident in which an action or decision made by the Aircraft pilot#Airline, pilot was the cause or a contributing factor that led to the accident, but also includes the pi ...
due to inexperience. I have 27 years in the cockpit with 2000 hours
flying time. I was a member of the Ukrainian Falcons… To the last I struggled to lift the plane,
utcopilot Yuriy Yegorov hit the catapult
riggering ejectionand we two ejected with our seats."
See also
*
Lists of air show accidents and incidents
Lists of air show accidents and incidents give lists of accidents and incidents at air shows. They include:
* List of air show accidents and incidents in the 20th century
* List of air show accidents and incidents in the 21st century
This is ...
References
External links
*
''Prosecution's Aerobatics After the Sknyliv Tragedy''(2006 journalist investigation of the accident, includes photos of the crash moment)
*
2004 Article in Ukrainian ''Dzerkalo Tyznhya'' weekly
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Aviation accidents and incidents at air shows
Accidents and incidents involving military aircraft
Ukrainian Air Force
History of Lviv
Aviation accidents and incidents in 2002
Aviation accidents and incidents in Ukraine
2002 in Ukraine
July 2002 events in Ukraine
2002 disasters in Ukraine