Hejce Plane Crash: 20 Years On – Košice Airport & Borsó Hill Tragedy

Declassification of the message

At the air base in Prešov, the wreckage of the plane was subjected to a thorough investigation. The cause of the crash was not completely clear for a long time, despite the finding of functional black boxes.

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According to the preliminary report of ex-Minister of Defense Martin Fedor from March 1, 2006 on the status of the accident investigation, the total damage to the plane was estimated at 66 million 760 thousand.

Shortly after the accident, an investigation into its causes began, as well as a criminal prosecution for the crime of public endangerment. Investigation commission of 25 experts. It was only after eight months that the survivors of the victims received a resolution from the prosecutor of the Prešov Military District Prosecutor’s Office. They learned that the main cause of the plane accident was probably the loss of situational and height orientation when the safety height of the flight was not observed on the given approach section, apparently in an effort to adjust the regime in time before landing.

Due to the good conditions, the pilots descended to the airport’s circuit altitude of 725 meters above sea level, “probably underestimating the height of the terrain under the aircraft and in its immediate vicinity. This height, including the height of the surrounding trees, was around 770 meters above sea level,” the accident report states, and it also mentions that the descent during the approach to landing did not use the instrumentation that was exclusively available on board the aircraft’s crew and carried out by the crew visual zoom method. The report also states that from the crew’s last communication, as well as the medical examiner’s findings, the plane’s crew was apparently not aware of the dangerous situation until the plane hit the Borsó hill.

In the conclusion, it is also written that the analysis did not confirm the failure of aviation technology. However, the commission points out in the report that the absence of objective evidence makes it impossible to unequivocally confirm the stated cause of the accident.

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The wreckage of the crashed Slovak military aircraft AN – 24
Source: TASR

According to the investigation, the so-called Kraft black hole illusion could have played a significant role in the accident. The lighted airport at night could seem closer than it really was.

The decision to declassify the file on the biggest air tragedy in the history of Slovakia was announced by the Minister of Defense Jaroslav Naď (OĽANO) in 2020. After 14 years, as the first minister, he complied with the requests of the civil association and entities that fought for declassification for years.

42 wooden columns

The investigation into the huge tragedy was officially completed at the end of September 2006. The soldiers who died in the crash were awarded in memoriam military veteran badges and medals for service in peacekeeping and observation missions or for loyalty to the armed forces.

The municipal council of the village of Hejce granted all victims honorary citizenship, Slovak soldiers also became honorary members of the Hungarian army in memoriam.

The anniversary of the tragedy is commemorated every year with a memorial service on Borsó Hill, where symbolic 42 wooden columns with the names of the victims are placed as a memorial to the deceased soldiers. In 2006, the citizens of the Hungarian village of Hejce built a large rock on the hill of death. It was the first monument that was created after the accident.

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AN-24 military plane crash dated January 19, 2006 was unveiled on June 2, 2006 at the crash site” title=”A memorial plaque to the victims of the AN-24 military plane crash dated January 19, 2006 was unveiled on June 2, 2006 at the crash site”/>

A memorial plaque to the victims of the AN-24 military plane crash dated January 19, 2006 was unveiled on June 2, 2006 at the crash site
Source: TASR – Milan Kapusta

In memory of the victims, on May 19, 2007, a monument created by the gallant artistic sculptor Ladislav Sabo was unveiled right in the village of Hejce. The central motif is a bronze statue of a falling figure surrounded by six-meter trees cast in bronze that broke when the plane fell.

“It’s hard to describe those feelings. I’m sad for the colleagues I lost here,” said Martin Farkaš, who regularly attends the anniversary of the tragedy in which he lost dozens of friends.