Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

Bulgarian Air Force intercept trainer aircraft with transponder shut off and make it land

| updated on 7/14/22 5:28 PM
Photo: BGNES

On July 13, the Air Force intercepted a small Cessna-150 aircraft, the Bulgarian Ministry of Defense has reported. After locating the aircraft flying without permission over the town of Svishtov, MiG-29 jets escorted it to an airport near Pleven.

It was later found out that it was a civil aviation training flight, but the plane did not have its transponder on. The pilot of the plane, Valery Iliev, an instructor from a private school for pilots, described the case as an "annoying mistake", BNR reporters informed.

The Bulgarian MiG-29 fighter jets have been raised in the sky on a signal from the NATO command in Torrejón, the outgoing Minister of Defense Dragomir Zakov announced at a briefing. He pointed out that apparently the actions of the plane were perceived as a potential risk and described the pilot's behavior as irresponsible for national security, especially in the current situation.


Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Within the space of 1 month, Bulgaria is mentioned 7 times as a country connected with dangerous food

In September, Bulgaria was mentioned as a country connected with dangerous food 7 times, indicate data of the European Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF), BNR’s Vesselina Milanova reports. Over the same period this country has reported..

published on 10/21/25 3:09 PM
PM Rosen Zhelyazkov

Cabinet allocates 15,000 leva to be paid out to heirs of people who lost their lives in the floods

The legal heirs of the people who lost their lives during the flooding in the region of Burgas at the beginning of October will receive 15,000 leva (EUR 7,670), the government has decided, BGNES reports. The 60,000 leva (EUR 30,679) needed has been..

published on 10/21/25 2:58 PM
Tzvetan Spassov, Smilen Valov and Dimitar Kolarov

More and more Bulgarians living abroad want to return to their country

The tendency of Bulgarians returning from abroad is permanent. This became apparent during the forum “Europe is with me”, organized by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy’s Human Resources Development Programme, the Bulgarian news agency BTA..

published on 10/21/25 2:31 PM