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

Flight hours of Bulgarian military pilots are way below NATO’s standards

Photo: BGNES

The flight hours of the Bulgarian military pilots are way below NATO’s minimum standards, the Commander of the Bulgarian Air Forces Major General Tsanko Stoykov said at Krumovo Air Base. The Bulgarian pilots should fly ten times more to cover the NATO standards, General Stoykov went on to say. On Monday evening a military helicopter MI-17 crashed at this air base. Two pilots died in the accident. The pilots who lost their lives during the accident had 17 and respectively 18 flight hours since the beginning of 2018. According to the NATO standards, each military pilot has to fly 180 hours a year, of which 40 hours may be spent in a flight simulator. The Bulgarian military pilots cannot cover these standards due to the lack of enough resourcing, Major General Stoykov pointed out.




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

Budget payments for salaries and pensions have grown by more than 18%

"From the beginning of 2025 until now, expenditures on personnel, social and health insurance payments, including pensions, have increased by 18.2% compared to 2024", announced Minister of Finance Temenuzhka Petkova during today’s regular government..

published on 10/8/25 11:13 AM

The authorities will now fine merchants who do not display their prices in both euros and leva

On October 8, the two-month grace period given to merchants to comply with the requirements of the Law on the Introduction of the Euro expires. During this period, they were expected to label the prices of goods and services both in leva and euros...

published on 10/8/25 9:45 AM

Heavy rain causes new localized flooding, but the situation is gradually returning to normal

Torrential rain flooded underpasses in Varna and caused landslides in various regions of the country. In Veliko Tarnovo (Central Bulgaria), the Yantra River has reached 2 meters and 20 centimeters, which is close to the critical level, but there is no..

published on 10/8/25 9:04 AM