Investigation considers 3 versions of plane crash in Zhytomyr Region

The investigation is considering three versions of a plane crash in the Zhytomyr Region on August 25, which killed three pilots, in particular the famous pilot Andrii Pilshchykov with the call sign Juice.

Tetiana Sapian, Communications Advisor for the State Bureau of Investigation, announced this on the air of the national telethon, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

She noted that the SBI will investigate all the details of the crash and promises to conduct a thorough check to determine the cause of the tragedy.

According to her, specialists from the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Air Force Command will be involved in the investigation.

"Regarding possible versions. You noted that pre-qualification is a violation of the rules of flights or preparation for them. And for that, there really is a penalty in the Criminal Code. But also now the investigation will consider such versions as technical malfunction of aircraft, pilot error, and the third version - violations in the organization of flights," she said.

Sapian added that in order to prove one of the versions, you need to conduct a number of examinations that are not done in one day.

This includes forensic examinations and black box decryption examinations.

In general, we are talking about a comprehensive forensic aviation and technical examination.

"We count on the fact that it is these examinations that will give an understanding to the investigation of how this happened," she said.

On Saturday, it became known that on the evening of August 25, a pilot with the call sign Juice and two other pilots were killed as a result of a collision between two Ukrainian aircraft in the Zhytomyr Region.

The tactical aviation brigade of Vasylkiv said that as a result of the plane crash, in addition to Pilshchykov, Viacheslav Minka and Serhii Prokazin were also killed.

The SBI launched an investigation into the crash.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on August 4, the Pecherskyi District Court of Kyiv chose preventive measures for officials of the State Emergency Service in the case of a plane crash in Brovary on January 18, in which the leadership of the Ministry of Interior Affairs was killed.