It absolutely indicates a lack of understanding of TCAS. However it took somebody to sit down look at the information available and put pen to paper stating that in the event of an RA conflicting with ATC, you must follow ATC. They must have had a valid reason to think along those lines. Unfortunately it took a crash to rethink that method of operation and bring it into line with the rest of the world. You would have thought a ‘westerner’ had read the Russian AIP and though… oh that’s odd maybe I should find out what their understanding is. Or conversely the other way round, Russian pilots flying for western carriers could have spotted the fundamental difference. We all learn from our mistakes, the crime is whether anyone reported the misunderstanding and nothing was done.
You cannot however write off all Russian pilots/aircraft etc as unsafe.
Keep reading below for a not so relevant but none-the-less Russian story.
I have flown with a few Russian Captains; all of varying standards, one night however stands out. I have to say he was a Captain who I would regard as well above standard in the operation of the previous 3 sectors, although his English was poor. We were planning to take off from a slippery runway. I was going through the performance when he offered to show me a quick way to get the slippery runway T/o speeds. Being from a cold place I thought he might know a thing or two. The 737NG FMC can select WET speeds on page 2, it also has another selection SKD or something similar. To cut a long story short and an even longer argument short. He was of the opinion that SKD would produce the figures for a ‘skiddy’ runway it was however for improving the WET speeds when operating on a Skid-Resistant (grooved) runway. DOH
