In Russia, pilots of regional flights are offered to independently carry out aircraft maintenance. This was stated by Deputy Head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Oleg Bocharov, reports the Aviatorshchina Telegram channel.
“Together with the Ministry of Transport, we must train and certify pilots as universal fighters: they must simultaneously be pilots and aircraft technicians. And the equipment should provide for the possibility of operating field repairs, ”said Bocharov.
According to him, first of all, we are talking about pilots of regional aviation. For her, it is proposed to create a "fundamentally new airworthiness maintenance system."
This practice is being introduced to save money, an anonymous aviation expert told The Insider.
“They want to save on technicians so that only pilots who will do the work of technicians part-time need to pay salaries. This practice exists in light aviation, but not in commercial aviation, which transfers passengers for money. It is more common in General Aviation (GA), where pilots fly for personal purposes (commercial transportation of passengers in GA is prohibited). In GA, flight safety requirements are much lower than in commercial aviation, so pilots there can unlearn to become technicians and do maintenance on their aircraft. But pilots can not do all types of aircraft maintenance. Simple types are possible, but complex ones are not.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade is also working on bringing the Baikal small aircraft to the market, the creation of which in the basic configuration, according to the department, is planned to be completed in 2023. At the same time, the agency reports that it has launched a number of works that will allow improving aircraft directly in operation, in fact creating a designer from them. Bocharov explained that in this way, airlines, together with pilots, will be able to quickly upgrade the aircraft for a flight – “transform it into a cargo, cargo-passenger or passenger configuration.”
But, as the expert of The Insider noted, the project of the Baikal aircraft with an American engine has not yet been completed, and there are no certified Russian engines for this class of aircraft. It is necessary to revive aviation before thinking about innovation.
“We simply do not have certified engines for this class of aircraft. And in practice, Russian engines are very capricious in operation, just like the Zhiguli from AvtoVAZ. Therefore, this idea looks stupid and ridiculous. Taking into account the quality of Russian civil aircraft from the state aviation industry. In the Russian Federation, small aircraft have almost been killed, there are no pilots, because only two state universities in the country train them. There are no technicians either, because there is almost no subject for their work. Before developing innovations in maintaining the airworthiness of small aircraft, you must first revive this small aircraft, and then think about innovations in it.”
Earlier it was reported that the Ministry of Industry and Trade plans to replace the co-pilot in aircraft with a virtual one in order to reduce the cost of their operation. On August 9, the department posted on the public procurement portal a notice about a tender worth 2.9 billion rubles for the development of such technology by the end of 2024. This is contrary to international flight safety rules, according to which there must be at least two people in the cockpit.
Also, Russian airlines recommended their pilots to use less brakes when landing and taxiing in order to conserve the resource of Western airliners, spare parts for which are not supplied due to sanctions. Sanctioned Russian airlines, including Aeroflot, are stripping planes to secure spare parts they can no longer buy abroad.
After the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, tough sanctions began to be imposed on the Russian Federation, which also affected the aviation industry. US authorities closed exports for Russian airlines in April. Also, the EU Aviation Safety Committee has included Aeroflot and a number of other Russian airlines in the list of carriers that are prohibited or restricted from flying within the EU. In April, it became known that Russian airlines operating domestic Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft cannot repair and maintain Russian-French SaM146 engines in good condition.
Later, the EU, Britain, and the US Treasury eased sanctions on goods for civil aviation. The United States has made indulgences for transactions related to the supply, export of goods, technologies or services to ensure the safety of civil aviation. A prerequisite for transactions is the registration of aircraft intended only for civil aviation outside of Russia. The Council of the EU specified that interaction with Russia on aviation goods and services would be allowed to the extent required to meet the safety standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).