7 Most Controversial Aircraft Crashes

El Al Flight 402:

On 27 July 1995 an international passenger flight from London to Tel Aviv via Vienna and Istanbul, El Al Flight 402 was shot down by two Bulgarian MiG-15 jet fighters and crashed near Petrich, Bulgaria.

The aircraft was registered by the observation post of the Bulgarian military near the town of Tran, crossing the Western Bulgarian border. By order of the Deputy Chief of Air Defense, Gen. Velitchko Georgiev, the Air Defence scrambled two MiG-15 jets. 

Initially, the Bulgarian government refused to accept responsibility, blaming the Israeli airliner for penetrating its airspace without authorization, later they issued a formal apology stating that the fighter pilots had been "too hasty" in shooting down the airliner, and agreed to pay compensation to the victims' families.

The pilots were not imprisoned as the pilots were determined to have followed the orders given.

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