Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Flight 130
Ilyushin Il-18D · Controlled flight into terrain
From Paris-Le Bourget International Airport (LBG) to Sofia Airport (SOF)
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 45 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 47
- Survivors
- 2
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Ilyushin Il-18D
- Aircraft type
- Ilyushin IL-18
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- LZ-BED
- Operator
- Balkan Bulgarian Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- 45
- Route
- From Paris-Le Bourget International Airport (LBG)To Sofia Airport (SOF)
Not plotted · Not plotted: the Wikipedia article gives no coordinates, and its site names no town or airport that matches exactly.
From the Wikipedia article
Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Flight 130 was a scheduled passenger flight from Paris–Le Bourget Airport to Sofia Airport with a stopover in Zurich that, on 18 January 1971, crashed while on approach to Zurich Airport, killing 38 of the 39 passengers and 7 of the 8 crew members.
Accident
Flight 130 departed Paris in the afternoon and climbed to its assigned altitude. After entering Zurich airspace, the captain asked for the weather conditions there and heard reports about improving weather. The air traffic controller cleared the flight for landing. They initiated approach in bad conditions. On final approach, the crew noticed the plane was off-course and tried to correct; however at 15:49, the left wingtip and undercarriage struck the ground. The Il-18 ended up in flames 700 m short of the runway. The crash destroyed the aircraft.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The crash was investigated in Switzerland. The black box was significantly damaged and no data could be extracted. An interview with Captain Vladov stated that five years of investigation could not establish a cause. However, other sources state that the investigation concluded that the crew failed to follow published procedures while initiating an ILS approach on runway 16 which led to the Il-18 passing below the minimum descent altitude. The thick fog was also considered a contributing factor.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Flight 130” (revision 1339311050, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Flight 130
- Revision
- 1339311050 · 2026-02-19 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q12271039
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Flight 130" (page 76611175, revision 1339311050)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- none
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- flight number in the article title
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.