Five SES officials to be tried for helicopter crash in Brovary on January 18, 2023

Law enforcement officers have brought the case of the helicopter crash in Brovary on January 18, 2023, to court. Five officials of the State Emergency Service are accused of violating helicopter flight safety rules, which led to the death of people. UNN reports this with reference to the press service of the State Bureau of Investigation. 

An indictment against five officials of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine was sent to the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv. They violated the flight safety rules of a helicopter carrying the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and other employees of the Ministry

SBI officers completed the investigation into the helicopter crash on January 18, 2023, in Brovary in November last year. After that, the case file was opened for review by the suspects and their defense lawyers, as well as the victims and their legal representatives.

Currently, the Prosecutor General's Office has submitted to the court an indictment drawn up by the State Bureau of Investigation against:

• Head of the Aviation and Air Search and Rescue Department of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine;

• acting commander of a special aviation detachment;

• Deputy Commander for Flight Training;

• commander of an aviation squadron;

• Head of the Flight Safety Service of the Special Aviation Detachment of the Operational Rescue Service of the Civil Defense of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine from Nizhyn, Chernihiv Oblast.

The investigation found that the officials had committed blatant violations of traffic safety and air transport operation rules, which led to the deaths of people.

As noted, foreign experts were involved in the investigation, including representatives of the French company that manufactured the helicopter.

It was established that a visit of the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine to Kharkiv and Dnipro regions was scheduled for January 2023.

Despite the warnings of internal instructions and legal requirements, SES officials used a helicopter that was on duty to respond to potential emergencies in Kyiv and the region to transport the delegation. The aircraft had no permits for other types of flights

Reportedly, during the preparation for the flight, the crew commander was not informed of the meteorological data along the entire route of the planned movement, in particular, of extremely unfavorable weather conditions over the city of Brovary. The crew itself did not have the appropriate permits to fly in difficult weather conditions and the necessary certificates. However, none of the officials responsible for flight safety canceled the flight or postponed it until the weather conditions were favorable.

Due to difficult weather conditions, the helicopter was forced to fly at an extremely low altitude, even lower than the height of the buildings on the route. The crew commander saw an obstacle - a multi-storey building - and began to perform a circling maneuver, but he abruptly climbed, lost his orientation in space, and, due to a lack of skills, collided with the ground when the maneuver was completed.

When the helicopter crashed, it damaged a kindergarten, neighboring buildings and parked cars.

In addition to the high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and their entourage, four women and a young child who had just arrived at the kindergarten were killed in the crash. 31 people, including 13 children, sustained injuries of varying severity.

Officials of the Aviation Department of the State Emergency Service and the SES of Ukraine were served a notice of suspicion of violating flight safety rules (air traffic safety), which caused the death of people and large-scale material damage, i.e. of committing a criminal offense under Part 3 of Article 276 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

The head of the flight security service of the same unit was served a notice of suspicion under Part 2 of Article 367 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (official negligence).

The sanction of the articles provides for a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.

Procedural guidance is provided by the Office of the Prosecutor General.

Addendum

According to Oleksandr Ruvin, Director of Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise, experts from Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise conducted complex commission forensic examinations to determine the causes of the plane crash in Brovary on January 18, 2023, which killed the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The commission of experts working on the investigation of the Brovary plane crash involved more than 30 people - highly professional and experienced specialists in aviation safety, meteorology, air navigation, etc. We have worked out all possible causes of the tragedy. All questions from the pre-trial investigation authorities regarding the technical characteristics of the helicopter, the actions of the responsible persons, the rules of traffic safety and operation of air transport, flight permits, the meteorological situation, the peculiarities of the piloting process and many other issues have been considered in detail. The experts analyzed an extremely large amount of information, conducted all the necessary expert experiments, deciphered the data from the flight data recorders, the so-called "black boxes," restored the day of the accident minute by minute and visualized the moment of the crash second by second