MOSCOW, June 27 (RAPSI) - The investigators and prosecutors have sent to the court the case against Major Sergei Koryagin, a military pilot whose plane crash landed in the Czech Republic in May 2012, the Investigative Committee announced on Thursday.
According to the investigators, on May 23, 2012, Koryagin was landing his An-30 plane at the Caslav Military Airport east of Prague. He was performing the maneuver at a higher speed and at a steeper trajectory than necessary, as a result of which the plane rolled off the landing strip and caught fire.
"The servicemen who were on board the plane received injuries of medium gravity, but the plane was completely destroyed, which cost the country over 9.9 million rubles ($301,000) in losses," according to the statement.
Koryagin will be tried in a Moscow Region court for violating the rules of flight and flight preparations. If found guilty, he may receive up to seven years in prison.
The twin-engine turboprop aircraft was making an Open Skies surveillance flight.
The Open Skies Treaty, signed in 1992 upon the initiative of US President George H. W. Bush, established a regime of unarmed aerial observation flights over the territories of its 34 signatory countries to promote openness and transparency of military forces and their activities.