TABSO Lisunov Li-2 LZ-TUE accident
Lisunov Li-2P · The TABSO Lisunov Li-2 LZ-TUE accident occurred on 22 November 1952
From Sofia Airport (SOF) to Varna Airport (VAR)
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
- 30 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 0
- 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
Lisunov Li-2P
- Aircraft type
- Lisunov LI-2
- 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-TUE
- Operator
- Tabso
- Onboard fatalities
- 30
- Route
- From Sofia Airport (SOF)To Varna Airport (VAR)
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
- Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
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
The TABSO Lisunov Li-2 LZ-TUE accident occurred on 22 November 1952. On that day a Lisunov Li-2P of TABSO, on a flight from Sofia-Vrazhdebna Airport to Varna Airport with a scheduled intermediate stop in Gorna Oryahovitsa, struck Mount Vezhen near Etropole on the first leg of the flight. All 30 occupants of the aircraft died in the accident. Until El Al Flight 402, this was thus the deadliest air accident in Bulgaria.
Accident sequence
The flight was conducted in the morning hours in heavy snowfall and the resulting difficult visibility conditions. On the first leg of the flight the aircraft was flown into the flank of the 2,198-metre-high Mount Vezhen in the Balkan Mountains; the aircraft was completely destroyed and all 30 occupants were killed. The impact occurred only 20 metres below the summit.
Investigation and cause
Cause
The accident investigators concluded that the crew had been unable to see the mountain because of the difficult weather conditions. The departure procedure called for flying a 15 km circuit around Sofia in order to climb to an altitude of 1,500 feet. Only then was the flight to continue in a north-easterly direction. The crew had evidently deliberately deviated from the prescribed departure route and opted for a direct flight in order to save time and fuel. For this reason, the aircraft had been below the minimum safe altitude when it reached the Balkan Mountains.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Flugunfall der Lissunow Li-2 LZ-TUE der TABSO” (revision 256385749, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article
Sources
German Wikipedia article: Flugunfall der Lissunow Li-2 LZ-TUE der TABSO
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 256385749 · 2025-05-26 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q97341526
- 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
- de Wikipedia article "Flugunfall der Lissunow Li-2 LZ-TUE der TABSO" (page 11636774, revision 256385749), translated into English with AI assistance
- 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
- operator is an airline according to Wikidata
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia article lead
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the German Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.