Another problem is "Russian Skies"...

[JanetFlight]

Wow...Could this be true?

The Aviationist » Scandal in the Russian VIP transport unit: 70 pilots flying illegally (http://theaviationist.com/2014/01/16/russia-license-scandal/#ixzz2qebHXsyO)

Cheers

[Richard J.]

My anti-virus (Avast) blocked my access to that link, claiming that the page was virus-infected.

[Burnie5204]

Eight pilots of the special Rossiya Aviation Unit, responsible for the VIP transport in the Russian Federation, may have not legally obtained the required flying licenses according to Life News.

The*Rosaviatsiya*agency (Federal Air Transport Agency) gathers 70 pilots working for several Russian airlines to operate the*Russian presidential fleet.The Rossiya unit, based in Vnukovo near Moscow, works under the direction of the Russian President Administration and is responsible for transporting the President, Prime Minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and heads of both houses of parliament. Additionaly the General Prosecutor, Secretary of the Security Council, the director of Constitutional Court and Chief of President’s administration are also transported by the unit.

The unit uses 20 planes, including*Il-96-300,*Tu-154M*and Mi-8 helicopters. Some Airbus and Falcon jets have also been used by the agency.

The Life News’s source claims that the Federal Aviation Transport Agency was forced to suspend all the pilots charged with the invalid credentials. The list includes pilots from Rossiya (which along with operating the VIP fleet has scheduled and charter flights from St. Petersburg and Moscow), Aeroflot,*Ak Bars Aero, Uralskye Avialinie, Yamal, UTAir and Taymyr.

What connects these professionals is the fact that their training took part in*Krylya Nevy training center and, according to Life News, their credentials seem to be suspicious.

At least 7 cases of false licenses have been proven with proper evidence.There are some doubts about the Federal Aviation Transport Agency itself, concening mainly the passive stance towards the ex-navigators and stewards (!) taking pilot seats. These people had no formal training; in other words, they never learnt to fly.The issue surfaced after the*Tatarstan crash of Boeing 737-500.

The crash was claimed to be caused by the human error and gradually the comittee came to a conclusion that the pilot might have obtained his license in an illegal training center, which was closed down afterwards.

Some experts also affirmed that the Boeing should not have taken to the air regardless of the circumstances, as it was already flying for 23 years, including Africa and South America, and took part in a crash on*Belo Horizonte airfield in Brazil.

Additionaly, back in November 2012 the jetliner had an emergency landing in Kazan.


Thats the text of the article.

Aside from the reported licencing issues I'm glad to see its not just UK media that wheel out "experts" to say stupid things like how a 23 year old airframe is automatically un-airworthy.

[flyboyike]

I suppose the author of the article can now feel somewhat vindicated in that issues with Presidential squadrons/outfits are not unique to his own country.

[Flying Mechanic]

Just like India and china, rampant corruption in aviation and fake licenses go together.

[roulishollandais]

All around the world, corruption is increasing in aviation, Europe included.
Manufacturers must verify that pilots like mechanics do the work properly.

[deptrai]

What indications do you have that corruption is increasing (also in europe)? I find it hard to find hard facts, but looking at outcomes, generally transport aviation safety - which has always been relatively good (in other words, excellent compared to other means of transport) tends to improve over time, not getting worse despite some deplorable issues.

[roulishollandais]

What are the banksters doing with their fake money (3300% in France : "accords de Bâle")?

What are the shareholders doing with interests put on off-shore bank accounts?

Do secret services use registered money to do world manipulation?

Do secret services work with operators with true licenses with their real identity?

Did you already sell an aircraft?

Are you able to be very efficient without aircrafts?

The French pilots who bought their exams in 80 have never been punished...

Are you really satisfied with air safety when the most of the planes are new and modern? Reread some PRUnE's threads

[CargoOne]

Their sources aren't very good or quite outdated... No idea about the root of this scandal with licenses but surely this is not affecting Russian Government VIP fleet. Pilots with allegedly fake licenses are flying in LED-based Rossya Airlines. However Rossya Airlines is not the same as Special Flight Unit "Rossya" which operates Russian Government fleet.
However it is easily traceable why this confusion happened - since early 90s RusGov fleet was operated by Unit 235, which was then renamed to State Transport Company Rossya, which then merged with LED-based Pulkovo Airlines under name "Rossya", and after some years VIP unit was separated again into Special Flight Unit "Rossya" while commercial fleet remained "Rossya Airlines" and was merged with Aeroflot.

[JanetFlight]

...since early 90s RusGov fleet was operated by Unit 235, which was then renamed to State Transport Company Rossya, which then merged with LED-based Pulkovo Airlines under name "Rossya", and after some years VIP unit was separated again into Special Flight Unit "Rossya" while commercial fleet remained "Rossya Airlines" and was merged with Aeroflot

WOW,,,Praise the Lord :ooh:

[5 APUs captain]

As I see there are 2 reasons of "fake" licenses:

1. Normally russian pilots have ATPL+Type "brush-up" course once per 3 years.
Few pilots have just payed for the course, but missed it.

2. Not all pilots received CPL, have really flown all required 150 hours...

[roulishollandais]

These reasons:ugh: are fake "reasons".

[spaceman75]

FAA? EASA? Paper...paper...paper...paper....: well, sometimes, papers save you! Anyway, true or not, the DEMAND calls and the SUPPLY replies! That's BRICS! :mad:

[PorcoRosso]

Papers saves you ? Well .... maybe in the loo when you need it, but frankly, I don't see EASA bureaucracy improving safety in any manner .
EASA is corrupted, like many organisation, but in a more subtile way than "give me money, I give you license " ... The whole thing is a joke .

[spaceman75]

I agree with you but, you know, the worst never ends and I think that in certains situations pressure is too much and you have those problems. The only way to avoid them is with the respect of the rules, even If many times the same rules create troubles and misunderstandings...but elsewhere profit first and safety at last.

[AucT]

Anyone recalls the crash of Dagestan Airlines Tu154 at Domodedovo in 2010? Well, I have just read news report that investigation have found the first officer to be flying with PPL! Basically, the first officer went straight for Type Rating courses on basis of his PPL. Fast track ATPL? :)

[ulugbek-pilot]

Overtaken CPL, Russia and some CIS countries even being ICAO members still have their own rules concerning FCL . There are no PPL-CPL-ATPL sequence, if you're someones sonny boy you might be type rated on B767 right after flight academy

[JanetFlight]

There are no PPL-CPL-ATPL sequence, if you're someones sonny boy you might be type rated on B767 right after flight academy

Have you ever been to DRC, Nig or similar? :E

[spaceman75]

After BRICS countries, new frontiers in Africa and, of course, even worst situations. But the problem for russian speaking countries, I think, It's the change of mentality: in the past, TU-IL-AN...with in-home training, but now Airbus-Boeing-Falcon ecc...with ENGLISH Training Facilities far from home: I have seen (and heard) many of them fail a lot of times. First of all, what about ICAO English Language Proficiency? :ugh:

[CaptainProp]

What about English proficiency? Plenty of French/Spanish/Italian pilots flying around seemingly unable to speak English, but still able to pass type rating courses.... :E :p

[Yancey Slide]

"There are no PPL-CPL-ATPL sequence, if you're someones sonny boy you might be type rated on B767 right after flight academy"

1500 hours in the right seat doing 1 in the pattern training a PPL is even better experiencewise? Quantity doesn't necessarily mean quality.

[ulugbek-pilot]

You had a bad experience to train one? You're right but when it comes to double standards, some pilots have hundreds of hours of flight exp. and they jumping over the heads, offensive.

[JanetFlight]

First of all, what about ICAO English Language Proficiency?

Sorry to disagree with you Spaceman, but in 20 years of aviation i still have more difficulties to deal with some Spanish and French guys, than with the russian ones...just my 2 cents :rolleyes:

[spaceman75]

Dear CaptainProp and dear JanetFlight, I know there are many problems about english language with italian (like me), spanish, french pilots etc....sometimes even between brits and americans. But, I mean, when you are pushing the throttle to get more power and It doesn't give you anymore, well, you are in trouble and you need an extra power search....like a DOPING!