Russia grounds IL-96-300

[alert5]

http://www.radarvector.com/2005/08/aviation-authorities-insist-on.html

Russia is grounding all Ilyushin 96-300 commercial jets due to problems with their braking systems.

[alert5]

Viktor Livanov, general director of Ilyushin, says there is no need to ground the Il-96-300 due to a one time failure of the plane's braking system.

http://www.radarvector.com/2005/08/no-need-to-ground-il-96-300-planes.html

[wes_wall]

Another

http://news.airwise.com/story/view/1124715817.html

[Evening Star]

From Moscow Times. Article only available today, so will quote here:

Il-96 Jets Barred From Flying

By Lyuba Pronina
Staff Writer

Aeroflot scrambled to adjust its flight schedule on Monday after the Transportation Ministry indefinitely grounded the country's Ilyushin 96-300 planes for safety reasons.

The unprecedented grounding comes only weeks after President Vladimir Putin, on a visit to Finland earlier this month, had to return to Russia aboard a backup Il-62 because of a technical malfunction in his Il-96.

Aeroflot, whose six Il-96s account for 40 percent of its long-haul fleet, canceled all flights to Hanoi and a number of flights to Beijing, Seoul, Toronto and Washington. The airline said it could lose up to $30 million if the flight ban lasted until the end of the year.

The grounding has also created difficulties for KrasAir and Domodedovo Airlines, which operate two and three Il-96s, respectively.

"We are suffering colossal losses," said Olga Trapeznikova, a KrasAir spokeswoman. "This happened in the peak season and has seriously affected our charter program."

There have been 19 incidents with Il-96-300 planes since 1993, Interfax reported Monday, citing Boris Alyoshin, head of the Federal Industry Agency.

The poor man's version of the Boeing 767, the wide-body Il-96 took to the skies in 1993 -- the last big achievement of Soviet civil aviation. The plane seats 300 passengers and has a range of 11,000 kilometers.

Over the weekend, the Federal Transportation Inspection Service forwarded a proposal to ground the Il-96 to Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko and a number of airlines, the Transportation Ministry said in a statement Monday.

The grounding -- which also affects the two presidential Il-96s operated by Rossia airline -- comes on the heels of a number of incidents earlier this month that affected flight safety, the ministry said, without going into any more detail.

An investigation has identified a defective component in the airplane's braking system as the reason for the malfunctions. The ministry determined that the part had been produced in violation of design requirements and that certificates on its production had been falsified.

The incident with Putin's aircraft sparked the decision to ground the plane, said a source in the transportation inspection service.

"If it had happened to some other aircraft, there would have been the required investigation but not so much noise," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

"Unfortunately, something first needs to happen to a presidential jet for our authorities to take action," said Lev Koshlyakov, Aeroflot's deputy general director.

"We have tomes of correspondence with the manufacturers asking them to make [technical] adjustments. But they either ignore us completely or ask for a lot of money."

Koshlyakov said Aeroflot was busy redrafting its flight schedule and using its own Il-86s, Airbus 320s and Boeing 767s to fill in the gaps.

Koshlyakov said the airline's total losses could amount to $30 million if the grounding lasted until the end of the year.

He also did not rule out that a contract to lease six more Il-96s would now be delayed. Aeroflot's board was set to approve the deal at an extraordinary shareholder meeting scheduled for Sept. 18.

"The grounding would give Aeroflot enough reason to postpone the deal," said Boris Rybak, head of Infomost aviation consultancy.

The delivery schedule of two Il-96s ordered last year by Cubana may also be affected. The Cuban state carrier gave a commitment to Ilyushin Finance Co. for two more Il-96s only last week, at the Seventh Moscow Aviation and Space Show, MAKS 2005.

"This technical malfunction will be fixed quickly and should not affect either of the [Cubana] contracts," said Andrei Lipovetsky, spokesman for Ilyushin Finance, which leases out the plane.

Vyacheslav Salikov, director of VASO, the Ilyushin production plant in Voronezh, said that he welcomed the move by the transportation authorities.

"The Transportation Ministry made the right decision. It is time for the industry to overhaul itself for the sake of future contracts and [for the sake of] post-sale support, beginning with the suppliers of materials and components," he said, speaking by telephone from Voronezh.

"We clinched a few deals at MAKS, and I would like to get guarantees and the requisite documentation on all components so that we don't get the effect of moonshine vodka on our plane."

Salikov did not explain how faulty components ended up in the assembly of the planes. Salikov blamed the splintering of the domestic aviation industry, which led to a lack of accountability and professionalism. The Voronezh plant that makes the Il-96 has 1,200 different suppliers, he said.

In recent years, prosecutors and civil aviation authorities have opened a number of investigations into the use of bootleg components in domestic aircraft, Infomost's Rybak said.

Love the "poor man's version of the Boeing 767" quote! Only goes to show that the British are not alone in efficiently putting the boot into their own country. Reporting of other issues appears rather sensationalist ("Unfortunately, something first needs to happen to a presidential jet for our authorities to take action"), except that this degree of mistrust between supplier and operator seems an endemic Russian problem. As I read it, Ilyushin are (were?) asking Aeroflot to foot the bill for correcting a (falsified?!) design fault?

[Itswindyout]

I have my copy of the paper in my hands.

I was told last night by a person who is involved that Putin had a big surprise when his brakes failed......So the fleet is grounded...not certain as to faulty parts......but the Lada factory is very close by.....

[alert5]

Aeroflot is negotiating a temporary lease of Western long-haul jets to make up for a shortfall in capacity due to the grounding of Il-96-300.

http://www.radarvector.com/2005/08/aeroflot-looks-west-to-replace-il-96.html

[Evening Star]

Some more stuff from today's Moscow Times:

The country's chief transportation inspector on Monday attempted to cancel a news conference at which a group of pilots said there were no safety concern serious enough to justify last week's grounding of the country's Ilyushin 96 jets.

Alexander Neradko, head of the Federal Transportation Inspection Service, unexpectedly appeared at a news conference organized by Il-96 pilots and shut reporters out.

Behind closed doors, Neradko could be heard loudly chastising pilots for challenging the Transportation Ministry's unprecedented decision.

...

Yet Il-96 pilots, representing Aeroflot and Domodedovo airlines, said the safety concern was exaggerated.

"It is a wonderful plane and we, the captains, think there is no need to ground it," Vladimir Salnikov, an Aeroflot pilot, told reporters.

While the component in question was indeed faulty, it did not jeopardize the plane's safety and could be replaced without grounding the entire fleet, he said.

There is talk of three to four months before the Il-96 is flying again.