Failure to deliver simulators causes concern

Published: 3/9/2000

The Czech daily newspapers, ZN Zemske Noviny and Ceske Slovo have reported that pilots of the new Czech-made L-159 are having to fly the new jet without the benefit of training beforehand in a flight simulator. Opinion is that the Czech Air Force has underestimated the pilots' training, and there is a real threat of an accident occurring. When agreeing the purchase of the L-159 from producers Aero Vodochody, the Czech Defence Ministry launched a public tender for a flight simulator for the aircraft, to enable the pilots to learn to react to difficult conditions during a flight and to master the aircraft's new systems. However, it later cancelled the tender and approached one of the interested bidders, Letecke Opravny Kbely, to produce a simulator which, as an aircraft repair company, it was unable to do without assistance from the Slovak company VRA. To date, it is not clear when the Czech Air Force will receive the simulators. The failure to secure simulators to improve pilots performance appears even more strange, when one considers that the General Klima , head of the air force expressed severe concerns about accident rate attributable to low flying time and for a period in 1998 grounded most of its aircraft. The air force remains however, in a cash squeeze, as are most of its Eastern and Central European neighbours.

Article ID: 1658