The SBI has completed the investigation of the plane crash in Brovary

The SBI employees have completed the pre-trial investigation of the helicopter crash on 18 January 2023, in Brovary. The case materials are open for familiarisation by the suspects and their defenders, as well as the victims and their legal representatives.

After familiarisation, the case materials will be submitted to the court.

In august 2023, the SBI employees served notifications of suspicion to five officials of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, who violated the flight safety rules of the helicopter carrying the top officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and accompanying persons.

The notifications of suspicion were served to the following persons:

1. head of the Department of Aviation and Air Search and Rescue of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine;
2. the acting commander of the special aviation detachment;
3. deputy commander for the flight training;
4. the commander of the aviation squadron;
5. head of the Flight safety service of the Special aviation unit of the civil protection operational and rescue service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine from Nizhyn, Chernihiv region.

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

The SBI investigators reconstructed the day of the helicopter crash minute by minute, including deciphering of the «black boxes».

Foreign experts were involved in the investigation, including representatives of the French helicopter manufacturer.

It was established that in January 2023, the visit of the top officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine to Kharkiv and Dnipro regions was planned.

Despite the warnings of the internal instructions and legal requirements, the officials of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine used a helicopter that was on the duty to provide transportation for potential emergencies in Kyiv and the region. The aircraft had no authorisation documents to perform any other types of flights.

The reconstruction of the tragic helicopter manoeuvre:

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

Due to difficult weather conditions, the helicopter was forced to fly at an extremely low altitude, which is even lower than the height of the buildings on the route. The crew commander had seen an obstacle, which was a multi-storey building, and began to perform a flyby manoeuvre, however, he abruptly rose upwards, then lost his orientation in space and, due to the lack of necessary skills, collided with the ground.

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

In addition to the senior officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, four women and a young child died in the helicopter crash as they had just arrived to the kindergarten. 31 people, including 13 children, sustained injuries of varying severity.

The officials of the Aviation Department of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine and the Special aviation detachment, rescue service of civil protection were served notifications of suspicion of violating flight safety rules (air traffic safety), which caused the death of people and large-scale material damage, that is committing a criminal offence under Part 3 of Article 276 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

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

The sanction of the articles provides imprisonment for up to 10 years.

The procedural guidance is provided by the Office of the Prosecutor General.