Russian Airlines and Boeing/Airbus
Thread Starter
Russian Airlines and Boeing/Airbus
I am currently staying at NaiYong Beach near Phuket airport in Thailand and can’t help noticing Aeroflot and other Russian charters flying Airbus and Boeing aircraft here several times a day.
I thought there was an embargo on the use of these aircraft and they were no longer supported by the manufacturer.
I thought there was an embargo on the use of these aircraft and they were no longer supported by the manufacturer.
IIRC the Russians rushed through a law giving their State Authorities rights over the certification etc
There were a few A/Bs that were owned by Russian airlines (SU in particular), not leased and on a foreign register. The aircraft legally owned by Russian airlines can fly to any country which has no carpet ban on Russian regstered aircraft. However should a re-registered aircraft do the same, they would likely be impounded in most places.
Just out of interest, are these flights allowed certified maintenance and to "pick up" spare parts in these countries where they are still allowed to operate to?
Databases and software must be totally out of date. How do these aircraft work with non working databases? Are they hacked somehow?
Data bases can be provided by friendly countries, the Iranians have relied on this for years. Obviously the copy is unlicensed and hopefully gets a very careful checking. Russian computer hackers are quite skilled and encryption would be at commercial level rather than top grade military.
Any aviation authority in a country that Russian Airbus or Boeing aircraft operate to should be taking a close interest in the airworthiness of these aircraft.
Thai Airways operate the same types and most of their fleet is grounded at the moment and parked in lines at BKK, with quite a few unlikely ever to fly again. While this is Thailand, I wouldn’t for a minute suggest that these aircraft or the company’s spares holding could be used to keep Russian aircraft flying. Sanctions would be properly enforced.
Any aviation authority in a country that Russian Airbus or Boeing aircraft operate to should be taking a close interest in the airworthiness of these aircraft.
Thai Airways operate the same types and most of their fleet is grounded at the moment and parked in lines at BKK, with quite a few unlikely ever to fly again. While this is Thailand, I wouldn’t for a minute suggest that these aircraft or the company’s spares holding could be used to keep Russian aircraft flying. Sanctions would be properly enforced.
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Thai Airways operate the same types and most of their fleet is grounded at the moment and parked in lines at BKK, with quite a few unlikely ever to fly again. While this is Thailand, I wouldn’t for a minute suggest that these aircraft or the company’s spares holding could be used to keep Russian aircraft flying. Sanctions would be properly enforced.
Russia can also purchase aircraft to be used as spares as Iran did ( and still do afaik) There are enough of them available currently.
One thing Russian authorities could face in the near future though is losing ICAO membership and all the protections that goes with it. Then it will be adifferent ball game flying those aircraft commercially and internationally.
Who insures them?
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Laos has just banned Russian aircraft from overflying en route Thailand.
14.12.2022 - 22:11 UTCAeroflot (SU, Moscow Sheremetyevo) has started operating some of its charter flights from Far Eastern cities in Russia to Thailand with refuelling stops after Laos closed its airspace to Russian airlines.
The airline confirmed to local media that it was in contact with the Laotian authorities, hoping to secure clearance to fly via the country's airspace. However, as long as the talks are not concluded, it must bypass Laos for flights from Vladivostok, Krasnoyarsk Yemelyanovo, and Novosibirsk to Thailand, one of the most popular international leisure destinations still open to Russian tourists. While for flights operated with A330-300s the development results only in an extension of the flight duration, services flown with B737-800s are forced to operate with a refuelling stop at Irkutsk Int'l, adding some two to three hours to the journey time.
Other Russian airlines flying to Thailand from the Far East, such as Azur Air and Ikar (Russian Federation), deploy long-range aircraft (B757-200s or B777-200s) capable of operating the extended route via Myanmar with no refuelling stops. The need to bypass Laos is not a factor for flights departing from central and western parts of Russia.
Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows that Russian airlines were flying through Laotian airspace until the end of November. It is not clear what made the South-Eastern Asian country change its decision regarding overflights. Laos, a single-party communist state, has very close political ties to China.
Simultaneously, the Aviatorshina Telegram channel reported that at least two airlines - iFly Airlines and Nordwind Airlines - were banned from operating over Jordan, an important transit country for flights to Egypt. The latter was forced to cancel its services to Hurghada and Sharm el Sheikh, as it became practically impossible for them to serve these routes with narrowbody aircraft, while the former will deploy its widebody A330-300s on a circuitous route bypassing Saudi Arabia from the south. Türkiye has previously banned flights (including overflights) of Russian double-registered aircraft, while Saudi Arabia bans all Russian flights and Syrian airspace is still deemed unsafe for commercial operators. Other carriers, including Aeroflot, Red Wings Airlines, Azur Air, and Azimuth, use aircraft legally registered only in Russia and are thus able to fly to Egypt via Türkiye.
How come Thailand is not sanctioned for refuelling etc.
https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/n...ssian-airlines
14.12.2022 - 22:11 UTCAeroflot (SU, Moscow Sheremetyevo) has started operating some of its charter flights from Far Eastern cities in Russia to Thailand with refuelling stops after Laos closed its airspace to Russian airlines.
The airline confirmed to local media that it was in contact with the Laotian authorities, hoping to secure clearance to fly via the country's airspace. However, as long as the talks are not concluded, it must bypass Laos for flights from Vladivostok, Krasnoyarsk Yemelyanovo, and Novosibirsk to Thailand, one of the most popular international leisure destinations still open to Russian tourists. While for flights operated with A330-300s the development results only in an extension of the flight duration, services flown with B737-800s are forced to operate with a refuelling stop at Irkutsk Int'l, adding some two to three hours to the journey time.
Other Russian airlines flying to Thailand from the Far East, such as Azur Air and Ikar (Russian Federation), deploy long-range aircraft (B757-200s or B777-200s) capable of operating the extended route via Myanmar with no refuelling stops. The need to bypass Laos is not a factor for flights departing from central and western parts of Russia.
Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows that Russian airlines were flying through Laotian airspace until the end of November. It is not clear what made the South-Eastern Asian country change its decision regarding overflights. Laos, a single-party communist state, has very close political ties to China.
Simultaneously, the Aviatorshina Telegram channel reported that at least two airlines - iFly Airlines and Nordwind Airlines - were banned from operating over Jordan, an important transit country for flights to Egypt. The latter was forced to cancel its services to Hurghada and Sharm el Sheikh, as it became practically impossible for them to serve these routes with narrowbody aircraft, while the former will deploy its widebody A330-300s on a circuitous route bypassing Saudi Arabia from the south. Türkiye has previously banned flights (including overflights) of Russian double-registered aircraft, while Saudi Arabia bans all Russian flights and Syrian airspace is still deemed unsafe for commercial operators. Other carriers, including Aeroflot, Red Wings Airlines, Azur Air, and Azimuth, use aircraft legally registered only in Russia and are thus able to fly to Egypt via Türkiye.
How come Thailand is not sanctioned for refuelling etc.
https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/n...ssian-airlines
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While it is true that Thailand is not party to sanctions, neither the USA nor the EU care about that and have secondary sanctions for exactly that case. Anyone helping Russia to wiggle out of its sanctions can be hit with a similar level of sanctions. Which is why China doesn’t help Russia for example.
The system will work fine with an out of date database. My job has a procedure for out of date database if maintenance hadn’t loaded the next version of the database. We double check the location of each waypoint. After all, how many things change every 28 days? That being said, after 10 months there will be more and more new waypoints that the crew will have to manually create.
Any country found to be helping Russia circumvent sanctions would be jumped on hard. A blind eye might be turned if an aircraft was AOG and needed a new fuel pump which could be supplied from an airline’s existing spares holding, but ordering all of Aeroflot’s parts requirements on their behalf and shipping them on wouldn’t be acceptable.
There was a problem a few years ago with a Norwegian Air B737 MAX which made an emergency landing in Iran and required parts which couldn’t be sent due to sanctions, it spent 10 weeks on the ground waiting for a new engine.
A subscription to JEPPESSEN paper charts could easily be purchased in another country and forwarded to Moscow where it could be reproduced without any identification and distributed. Having to enter new waypoints and create routes manually would be quite tedious and might involve a navigator being carried for that purpose.
There was a problem a few years ago with a Norwegian Air B737 MAX which made an emergency landing in Iran and required parts which couldn’t be sent due to sanctions, it spent 10 weeks on the ground waiting for a new engine.
A subscription to JEPPESSEN paper charts could easily be purchased in another country and forwarded to Moscow where it could be reproduced without any identification and distributed. Having to enter new waypoints and create routes manually would be quite tedious and might involve a navigator being carried for that purpose.
Russian pilots 'told to brake less'
Several sources are reporting that internal memos at a number of Russian airlines instruct the pilots to disregard fuel economy and use maximum reverse thrust on landing to lessen the wear on the brakes. Sanctions seem to start to bite.
e.g. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-ne...are-parts-run/
e.g. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-ne...are-parts-run/
This means more wear and tear on the engines which will come back to bite later but even more expensive.
Back when I was working on the original 777 development, I semi-seriously suggested we simply get rid of the reversers and add a 'drogue' chute that the pilots could deploy if they got sufficiently nervous - less cost and weight and less maintenance (not coincidentally, I'd just come from investigation the Lauda in-flight deployment crash). Even back then, I was told they bookkept a $100/landing savings in brake maintenance costs thanks to the use of reverse thrust. The savings of brake wear from the use of reversers is not subtle.
The following is paraphrased from the BFGoodrich Engineering Report 7437:
Brake wear factors: Steel brake wear is a function of the amount of energy absorbed during aircraft landing. Less energy (lower temperature) nets longer life. Carbon brake wear is a function of the number of times the brakes are applied and the temperature at which they are applied. Longer brake life will result from fewer applications and maintaining higher brake temperatures.
Brake wear factors: Steel brake wear is a function of the amount of energy absorbed during aircraft landing. Less energy (lower temperature) nets longer life. Carbon brake wear is a function of the number of times the brakes are applied and the temperature at which they are applied. Longer brake life will result from fewer applications and maintaining higher brake temperatures.