Burgas - Sofia

On November 4, 1972 at 08:02 PM, Burgas - Sofia experienced a crash involving Ilyushin II-14, operated by Balkan Bulgarian Airlines, with the event recorded near Smolyan Smolyan.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was landing (descent or approach) at a mountains crash site.

35 people were known to be on board, 35 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 4, crew fatalities: 4, passengers on board: 31, passenger fatalities: 31, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. During the preflight briefing, the crew was informed about poor weather conditions in Sofia and that the visibility was below minima. The airplane departed Burgas Airport at 1901LT and en route, the captain decided to divert to Plovdiv where weather conditions were considered as better. First radio contact with approach control in Plovdiv was established at 1950LT and the crew was cleared to descent. Twelve minutes later, while descending by night and limited visibility, the airplane struck the slope of a mountain located in the Rhodopes Mountain Range, near the city Smolyan. The wreckage was found few hours later about 56 km southwest of Plovdiv Airport. All 35 occupants have been killed.

Aircraft reference details include registration LZ-ILA, MSN 1460 010 46, year of manufacture 1956.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 41.6154°, 25.0062°.