The end of last month in Montenegro was marked by two aviation accidents of light aircraft that happened in the space of only three days, fortunately without human casualties, but also reports and disturbing videos from a security point of view opened up the question of the very debatable behavior of some pilots in the Montenegrin air force. space.
On Wednesday, July 19, in a failed attempt to make a forced, so-called off-airport landing, near Štoj near Ulcinj, a Grappo G-70 ultralight aircraft crashed, in which one person was seriously injured and another was lightly injured.
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Then, on July 22, a Swiss ultralight seaplane of the ICP Savannah S type made an emergency landing in the river Lim near Murin, using an emergency parachute used for the safe landing of the plane, but its two-man crew fortunately escaped unhurt, while the plane suffered minor damage.
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These two accidents are already being investigated by the National Commission for the Investigation of Accidents and Serious Accidents of Aircraft, Extraordinary Events Threatening the Safety of Railway Traffic and Maritime Accidents and Accidents (KINNS), which will make an official report on their causes and factors that contributed to these accidents. Until then, it is ungrateful and pointless to discuss the causes of these two accidents, but the fact remains that just a few days after them, videos of several, to say the least, problematic situations with ultralight aircraft appeared on social networks and in the media, which recently happened in Montenegro.
Unauthorized landing
It is about the unauthorized landing of a seaplane on the Bojana river near Ada Bojana on July 7, the sweeping flight of two seaplanes on July 20 at a low altitude above the island of Katic near Petrovac, in which a collision could have occurred with a large drone that was performing authorized operations here at the same time aerial filming operations, and the literally "cowboy" way of flying of the crew of an ultralight seaplane, which on July 23 in the Verige strait in Boka performed low-altitude maneuvers between the vessels that were moving there, and then even made an unauthorized landing on the sea surface in near Cape Sveta Nedjelja, west towards Bijela.
These last three cases are directly or indirectly, as was the case with the controlled fall of the seaplane into the Lim River, related to the event of the MontAdria 2023 International Seaplane Regatta, which was held from July 20 to 23 in Montenegro, with the aim of promoting its natural beauty, small airports and the use of seaplanes for tourist purposes.
The agenda submitted by the organizing committee of MontAdrie to UPSUL on July 12 requested the "assistance and support" of that state body for their activities planned for July 20, which included "touch and go" landings by seaplanes category at the location of Kotor, in the traverse of the central entrance to the Old Town of Kotor at a distance of 150 m from the coast and honoring the seaplane pilots of the Hidroavina Squadron", as well as the same "touch and go" landing of seaplanes in Tivat near the city's Pina waterfront, in Meljina near the Lazure Hotel , on Mogren near the Avala hotel in Budva and in front of the marina in Bar, all at a distance of only 150 meters from the coast. For the third day of the regatta, on July 23, it was requested that "landing by light seaplanes at the location of Kumbora and anchoring in order to lay a wreath at the unique in the world monument erected in honor of seaplanes in the memorial park", and then "landing on the water surface at the location of the island of Sveti Marko and anchoring to hold the closing ceremony of the regatta at the Nikki Beach location as the sponsor of the regatta”.
Heavy maritime traffic
None of these locations was designed, equipped, or marked as a water airport, in accordance with the "Pavilnik on standards for the smooth use of operating areas, facilities, devices and equipment for water airports", which was adopted by ACG. By the way, in Article 32 of that Rulebook, among other things, it stipulates that "the pilot of the aircraft is obliged to navigate on the water in accordance with the regulations on traffic on the water surface". This essentially means that while the seaplane is flying, it is considered an aircraft in the legal sense and is subject to the Air Traffic Act, while the moment it lands on the water surface, the seaplane legally becomes a vessel and is subject to regulations related to the safety of navigation at sea. . Article 21 of the Law on Navigation Safety stipulates that "ships, yachts and seaplanes must not approach the coast at a distance of less than 300 meters".
When asked how it occurred to them to ask for something like this in view of the provisions of the Maritime Navigation Safety Act when it comes to seaplane operations, as well as the extremely dense maritime traffic and other activities at sea that take place in Boka during this period, and how imagined that the hydrofoils would land in the middle of the Kotor port between the cruise ships and the tenders that transport passengers from them to the mainland, the organizing committee of the MontAdria regatta "News" did not receive a direct reply.
In a long letter to "Vijesta", Dragiša Raičević from the NGO International Hydro-Aviation Regatta MontAdria, the owner of the only hydroplane in Montenegro, an expert in aerogeophysics and aeromonitoring, and the only pilot and flight instructor with a rating for hydroaviation in Montenegro, a story about the possible endangerment of maritime traffic from this way of flying a seaplane as requested or was seen on the coast before, during and after MontaAdrie, he "turned" to the comparison of data on the size and weight of seaplanes compared to ships that regularly sail there, but did not comment on the danger of a seaplane in a low flight or an unauthorized attempt to land in the Verige Strait, for example, he hooks the mast of one of the sailboats that sail there or "gets stuck" in a cruiser whose maneuverability in the strait is very limited.
Raičević said that all activities related to the organization and implementation of the three MontAdria regattas held so far were done in coordination and with the consent of all competent authorities and services, including ACV, Air Traffic Control of Serbia and Montenegro, SMATSA and UPSUL, and that UPSUL and this time made a "supplementary request to, if possible, touch the memorial water surfaces where the first seaplane take-offs took place 110 years ago, without stopping in the so-called touch and go procedure by which the seaplane lowers its height to the level and moment of touching the water surface in a length of 1 to 10 m without stopping and continue climbing along the route".
"We received an answer that the areas we mentioned in the letter are not recommended due to many other activities and manifestations. We fully complied with their recommendations. I would like to point out that during the flight of the regatta route, which took place in the early hours of the morning, due to elevated temperatures, no surface of the sea water area was touched, Raičević told us.
Flying over the island of Katić
Raičević confirmed that on July 7, he personally performed a safety test of water surfaces at the mouth of the Bojana river by landing an Icon A5 amphibious seaplane, and that, according to him, the Rulebook on conditions for off-airport landing and take-off of aircraft issued by ACG was not violated at that time.
Regarding the low overflight of the two seaplanes participating in the MontAdria regatta on the island of Katic near Petrovac, in the zone where a large, 25-kilogram drone that had all the approvals of the ACV for that announced flight was also operating at the time, Raičević says that their flights were "properly announced in the form of a flight plan, contact was always maintained with Flight Control, in that area the flight took place in the zone of the free G layer, the height, intentions and directions of movement were agreed with Flight Control".
From UPSUL, however, they look at this incident differently, so he is the deputy director of that administration Žarko Lukšić sent an official report of this event to the CAA on July 22, asking to determine whether the seaplanes violated the Air Traffic Act "because they flew over the island of Katič at a height of less than 150 meters, and with the presence of a drone that had a regular permit for use by the CAA -a".
In the report that "Vijesti" had access to, Lukšić states that the seaplanes flew over Katić in sweeping flight at a height of only 20 to 40 meters, which can also be seen by comparing their position in relation to the lighthouse there, which is located at a height of 25 meters above the sea. , that at the time of the flyover, there was also a group of 7-8 vessels just a hundred meters away "and maritime safety could be threatened".
Otherwise, according to the current Rules for VFR (visual) flying, in Montenegro, aircraft may not fly at a height of less than 300 meters above the inhabited area or at a height of less than 150 meters above uninhabited parts of the territory, i.e. above water surfaces.
On July 23, Lukšić sent another report to the ACV due to the incident of the same day in the early evening hours, with a seaplane flying over at a low altitude of the Verige strait in Boka, "in which at that moment there were a large number of small vessels, and two megayachts of 117 and 70 meters long". The seaplane, having made a turn at a low altitude above the settlement in the town of Luka, then landed on the sea surface near Cape Sveta Nedjelja, cutting the path of one of the sailboats sailing in the bay.
"We believe that this type of illegal, uncontrolled behavior endangers both air and sea traffic and that it can cause accidents with the loss of human lives and is contrary to all legal norms and procedures that are very restrictive in air traffic, because there was no communication with the maritime authorities," he said. said Lukšić, asking for the reaction of the ACV in accordance with its competences, "because otherwise the same or a similar scenario of an aircraft crash as in the previous few days will happen".
In the video that he forwarded to the ACV, it can be seen that dangerous maneuvers and unannounced landings on the sea are carried out by the Icon A5 amphibious seaplane. Lukšić also asked the ACV to inform him about the report he filed for the unannounced and unauthorized landing of a seaplane near Ada Bojena on July 7, and noted that in that and another case in Boka, "the seaplanes did not report to the maritime authorities that they were landing at marine water surface, which is in direct contradiction to the Rulebook on Standards and Criteria for the Unhindered Use of Water Surfaces, Facilities, Devices and Equipment of Water Airports".
Raičević said about the incident in the Verige Strait that it happened after the end of the MontAdria regatta and that it had nothing to do with the regatta.
"The flight took place outside of the regatta and we were not aware of that flight. All pilots who fly in the airspace of Montenegro independently submit their flight plans to air traffic control and are independently responsible for their flight.
The video shows that the plane touches the water surface without stopping and that it was the exit part towards the expansion of the bay with further climbing", he commented.
ACV: We investigate incident situations
To the question of "Vijesti", what is the general composition of the ACV according to the way in which MontAdria is organized and implemented, considering the numerous remarks and complaints of citizens about the extremely low overflight of populated areas by the participants of that event and what UPSUL reported to them, from The agencies announced that MontAdria does not have the character of the so-called air shows, it is about "aircraft operations that were carried out as operations for their own needs, in accordance with valid rules and regulations, and not as operations within the air show for which it would be necessary to seek prior approval from the Agency".
"The planned flight was in accordance with the usual flight of small aircraft for private needs, and any deviation or unforeseen event is the subject of an analysis by the Civil Aviation Agency or an investigation by the Commission for the Investigation of Accidents and Serious Accidents," said the ACV.
They confirmed that the events of July 20 near Petrovac and July 23 in Boka "are the subject of an investigation at the Civil Aviation Agency and the Agency is taking all measures in accordance with the Air Traffic Act", but they also stated that the actors of those events were aircraft foreign registrations, and in that case "the competent aviation authorities of these countries are contacted, who are informed of the established facts regarding the event established by the Civil Aviation Agency".
Information interview with Raičević
As for Raičević's seaplane landing near Ada Bojana, the ACV said that they held an informative interview with the pilot.
"In accordance with the Rulebook on off-airport landings and takeoffs, it was determined that it is possible to comply with the provisions of this rulebook when performing landing and takeoff operations only at the mouth itself, in terms of the distance from the coast. Given that it is a relatively small usable area, and that almost the entire course of the Bojana River does not meet the provisions of this Ordinance, the pilot was instructed to strictly observe the provisions of the aforementioned Ordinance in his preparation. Considering that before the mentioned event we had no reports of a possible violation of the regulations, as well as the fact that this is a pilot with a lot of experience in hydroaviation, the ACV considers that the measures taken in the event of the mentioned event are adequate", the Agency pointed out, noting that it is valid in our country "the provision according to which it must be at a distance of more than 150 meters from the coast, more restrictive than European regulations and regulations in force in European countries".
Bonus video:
