Sknyliv air show disaster

On 27 July 2002, 84 people were killed and over 100 injured at an airshow in Sknyliv (Скнилів) airport near Lviv, Ukraine. A Ukrainian Air Force Sukhoi Su-27 aircraft crashed during an aerobatics presentation. It was the world's worst airshow disaster to date.

The aircraft, flown by two experienced pilots, was reported to have lost power before clipping trees, at which point the crew ejected. The plane hit a stationary aircraft and burst into flames, then slid into the crowd of spectators. Both pilots survived with injuries.

Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma publicly blamed the military for the disaster and dismissed the head of the air force, Volodymyr Strel'nykov. The defense minister Volodymyr Shkidchenko sent in his resignation, but it was rejected by Kuchma.

Experts supposed the following causes of the accident, in the order of importance:

• violation of the flight plan by crew or ground co-ordinator
• wrong flight plan, particularly, mistaken correlation between the flight and spectators' zones
• piloting error
• technical failure
• fueling the plane with an excess amount of kerosene, the Su-27 became too heavy and not agile enough to complete the manouver

It should be noted that a Russian Sukhoi Su-35 prototype fighter jet (a thrust vectoring derivative of the Su-27) has previously crashed under suprisingly similar conditions during the Paris Le Bourget air show. That accident happened due to flight plan error, but did not result in any fatalities.

In December 2004, The latest military court hearing in the crash case was held in Lviv. None of the five accused (among them pilots and ground co-ordinator) admitted guilt.

On June 24, 2005, military courts sentenced the two pilots, Volodymyr Toponar and 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 fulfil orders, negligence and violating flight rules. Two of the three officials were sentenced to up to six years in prison, and the last official received up to four years. In addition, Toponar must pay 7.2 million hryvnia ($1.42 million; €1.18 million) in compensation to the families, and Yegorov must pay 2.5 million hryvna. Toponar said he plans on appealing the ruling after hearing the verdict.

See also

• Ramstein airshow disaster
• Siberia Airlines Flight 1812 accident
• Brovary
• Military of Ukraine
• Ukrainian Falcons aerobatics team

References

• 2004 Article in Ukrainian Dzerkalo Tyznhya weekly