hkskyline
June 11th, 2005, 04:47 PM
Aeroflot trade union denounces lack of flight safety
MOSCOW, June 9 (AFP) - A trade union of engineers and technicians at Russia's state-owned airline Aeroflot on Thursday said flight safety could no longer be assured by the airline, claiming that technical checks were insufficient.
"Official information given out by Aeroflot on safety of its flights does not correspond to the real state of things," a union leader, Viktor Klechtchenkov, told reporters.
Specialists at the airline's technical centre "systematically violate the rules on checks of planes and on technology, as well as instructions, which leads to numerous irregularities" in the technical state of aircraft, a union statement said.
Aeroflot last year officially registered 250 violations of regulations on technical controls.
"But the real number of irregularities is 10 times bigger," Klechtchenkov said.
And he told how in April, an engine of a TU-154M aircraft had caught fire at Cheremetevo airport in Moscow as it was taking off for Oslo. After technical work, the plane again attempted takeoff but two of its other engines then set alight.
Additionally, last year saw an extension in the length of time a plane's brakes can be used without the equipment being checked over, according to the unionist.
He claimed that often such checks were carried out visually without dismantling the parts.
The union blames the overall problem on too heavily loaded timetables, a lack of staff, low salaries and "unsatisfactory" working conditions.
Under the rules, technicians should be given three hours to check over an aircraft "but often the planes land every quarter of an hour and leave again 80 minutes later," Andrei Almayev, head of the union representing 1,300 executives, said.
Three other unions of Aeroflot, which has 15,000 employees, claim to have about 8,000 members.
MOSCOW, June 9 (AFP) - A trade union of engineers and technicians at Russia's state-owned airline Aeroflot on Thursday said flight safety could no longer be assured by the airline, claiming that technical checks were insufficient.
"Official information given out by Aeroflot on safety of its flights does not correspond to the real state of things," a union leader, Viktor Klechtchenkov, told reporters.
Specialists at the airline's technical centre "systematically violate the rules on checks of planes and on technology, as well as instructions, which leads to numerous irregularities" in the technical state of aircraft, a union statement said.
Aeroflot last year officially registered 250 violations of regulations on technical controls.
"But the real number of irregularities is 10 times bigger," Klechtchenkov said.
And he told how in April, an engine of a TU-154M aircraft had caught fire at Cheremetevo airport in Moscow as it was taking off for Oslo. After technical work, the plane again attempted takeoff but two of its other engines then set alight.
Additionally, last year saw an extension in the length of time a plane's brakes can be used without the equipment being checked over, according to the unionist.
He claimed that often such checks were carried out visually without dismantling the parts.
The union blames the overall problem on too heavily loaded timetables, a lack of staff, low salaries and "unsatisfactory" working conditions.
Under the rules, technicians should be given three hours to check over an aircraft "but often the planes land every quarter of an hour and leave again 80 minutes later," Andrei Almayev, head of the union representing 1,300 executives, said.
Three other unions of Aeroflot, which has 15,000 employees, claim to have about 8,000 members.