GSGA say ICAO President agrees to support Russia's case (690 words)

Published: 7/17/2001

Alexander Neradko, the head of GSGA, speaking at a joint meeting with the ICAO, said that that he had grounded the fleet of Rus Airlines, the owner of the Il-76 that crashed at Chkalovsky air base on Sunday, pending inspections of the airline's remaining 10 Il-76s and 2 Tu-154s. The GSGA also banned civil aircraft from using Moscow region's military air bases at Ramenskoye, Chkalovsky and Migalovo with the exception of aircraft based in these locations. Adding that the military bases needed to meet the standards of civil. Repeating a frequent complaint of the GSGA and its predecessor the FSVT, as well as other cargo operators, that the relaxed regime at military bases has allowed carriers to operate with relative impunity in terms of meeting accepted standards. Ahead of the publication of the preliminary results of the investigation the briefing offered little more in the way of causes of the crash, with Neradko not commenting on any theories until the flight recorders are processed. Although he did add that they were in considerably worse condition than the boxes recovered from the Tu-154 that crashed recently and had assisted in the speedy analysis of the crash. He did however, specifically rejected claims that the crew were either drunk or under the influence of drugs. Rus Airlines rejecting the claims of over loading, said the aircraft that crashed had a life of 20,000 hours and had only flown 3,480 hours, and both the cargo and aircraft had be carefully examined before the flight. The pilot Vyacheslav Boiko was experienced and had flown 12850 hours including 5,000 hours on Il-76. Speculating on the causes of the crash, the company said that it believed the thick fog at the air base disorientating the flight crew had caused it. Neradko commented that the GSGA had decided not to ground Russia's huge Il-76 fleet and Dr. Assad Kataite President of the ICAO Council also reported that the ICAO agreed with that decision. Overall Kataite said that he was satisfied with flight safety in Russia and the 2 recent air crashed had not changed that view. The focus should now be on the investigation of the crash, establishing its causes and preventing similar occurrences in the future. Neradko said that the issue of overloading cargo aircraft remained a headache for the department and the GSGA had requested funding for more inspectors and for increases in salaries. Given that the current salaries for inspectors were often only a third of those of the aviation technicians working for the companies being inspected. He added that the GSGA had already taken action to resolve some of the problems by removing the licences of airlines caught exceeding the limits and forcing carriers to operate out of civil airports rather than military bases where the regime is easier. At the meeting, the GSGA and the Russian Government also suggested that the ICAO may be sliding on the enforcement of the 1st of April 2002 deadline on noise and emissions standards, leaving the possibility that Russian aircraft may not be banned from European air space after that date. Neradko reported that he had managed to convince Kataite to support Russia at the forthcoming ICAO assembly, which will take place from the 25th of September to the 5th of October 2001. This change of view on the part of Kataite however, is reported to be as a result of the re-iteration of the threat to exclude European aircraft from Russian air space if the ban was enforced. On other subjects Neradko commented that many of the country's airports needed both upgrading and in some cases relocating away from centres of population such as Irkutsk, but the money for such projects was not going to come from the Federal government and regional and local governments had a take a greater role. He did add however, that as an offset the regional government's should be gaining ownership of the airports from the Federal authorities. At the press briefing Neradko asked journalists to differentiate between the previously connected Rus Airlines and Rus Leasing, commenting that they are now completely independent companies.

Article ID: 2649