It rolled upright once more and was still descending rapidly when the left wing dropped shortly before it hit the ground, at which point the crew initiated ejection.

[6] On August 7, an investigation conducted by Yevhen Marchuk, the National Security and Defense Secretary, concluded with the pilots receiving a majority of the blame.

Marchuk also attributed some blame toward the event organizers and scrutinized them for allowing dangerous stunts to be performed in close proximity to spectators.

[7] Toponar rejected Marchuk's findings and claimed that technical issues and a faulty flight plan was what led to the crash.

[9] Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma publicly blamed the military for the disaster and dismissed the head of the air force, General Viktor Strelnykov.

[11] On 24 June 2005, a military court sentenced pilot Volodymyr Toponar and co-pilot Yuriy Yegorov to fourteen and eight years in prison, respectively.

The court found the two pilots and three other military officials guilty of failing to follow orders, negligence, and violating flight rules.

"From the mission briefing it is obvious that the flight area parameters we were given significantly exceeded the safe margin of separation from spectators.