Aeroflot Nord pilots in Perm not even certified

[roykirk]

After months of blaming shoddy American engineering, engine failure, and even hints of sabotage conspiracies, it turns out the reason for the Perm crash was much more basic.  The pilots weren't even certified to fly the 737 and used phony papers!     The main investigator also noted there was nothing wrong with the airplane (perhaps with the noted exception of the deadly combination of incompetent pilots and gravity).  No wonder parent company Aeroflot is making Nord and Dom scrape their name off the planes.  I'm already a bit of a nervous flyer.  I'm going to need Valium in the future when I'm forced to fly Dom or Nord on internal flights.  Anyone for Transaero or S7?

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/1010/42/372073.htm

[Ade]

Oh damn. The only way to my girlfriend's city by air is flying A-Nord and the alternative is 24 hours on a train.

[Shadow]

Inexperience by the crew caused a perfectly normal engine of a plane without problems to burst in to flames and then make the plane catch fire at 1000m altitude without exploding. 

Perhaps one of the experienced pilots here can comment.

[docetae]

Inexperience by the crew caused a perfectly normal engine of a plane without problems to burst in to flames and then make the plane catch fire at 1000m altitude without exploding. 

Perhaps one of the experienced pilots here can comment.

There was probably an emergency situation on board but the crew did not know how to manage it. The true question is to know if a qualified crew would have known what to do ...

[roykirk]

Inexperience by the crew caused a perfectly normal engine of a plane without problems to burst in to flames and then make the plane catch fire at 1000m altitude without exploding. 

Perhaps one of the experienced pilots here can comment.

Not a pilot, but I have read some other articles on the moments leading up to the crash.  In one article I read, it was noted that the pilots were making some unusual sharp maneuvers after they had to abort the first landing (maybe a sign of the inexperience).  I would imagine that if you stress any jet enough, you have the potential of causing an engine flame-out.  If you don't have enough experience to know how to initiate fire procedures, the fire could easily spread to a wing and cause the fuel tanks to ignite.  But then again, the one investigator said there was no explosion.   ???

[Misha]

The pilots weren't even certified to fly the 737 and used phony papers!    

Yes, people often post on this forum that corruption in Russia or the FSU isn't any worse than any other country, only different 

[SANDRO43]

In one article I read, it was noted that the pilots were making some unusual sharp maneuvers after they had to abort the first landing (maybe a sign of the inexperience).  I would imagine that if you stress any jet enough, you have the potential of causing an engine flame-out. 

I never piloted a jet, but my old flight instructor, a former IAF F-104 jockey, told me he had experienced a flame-out while engaged in a mock dogfight with a French Mirage over the Alps.

The flame-out was caused by his drastic pitch-up maneouvre at some 20,000 feet , i.e. a VERY violent attempted climb that caused a compressor stall: one or two of his engines were suddenly starved of air for their combustion and stopped turning their turbine(s). Basically, it's like slamming suddenly into a wall at high speed .

The irony was that, being a comparatively short fellow and not having his belts tightened down properly, he found himself stuck on the cockpit roof with his feet no longer reaching the pedals and the plane falling like a brick for some 15,000 feet, until some fluke caused it to assume a nose-down attitude, he was slammed back into his seat and finally regained control of the diving aircraft.

So, you see, a jet engine flame-out is not something likely to occur during approach (someone mentioned a 1,000m altitude, which can only be maintained after take-off or before landing) unless from lack of fuel, and it does NOT initiate fire-control procedures, since there's NO fire to fight .

As usual, stories about a flight accident are written by journalists who haven't the faintest idea about flying .

[ScottinCrimea]

Yes, people often post on this forum that corruption in Russia or the FSU isn't any worse than any other country, only different 

Maybe not so different:

http://www.allbusiness.com/operations/shipping-air-freight/769393-1.html

AIRLINE INDUSTRY INFORMATION-(C)1997-2001 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

A first officer with Airtours International, a holiday carrier based at Manchester Airport in the UK, is apparently being investigated after it was discovered that he may have falsified his qualifications.

The pilot, a former RAF fighter pilot, was suspended in February after Airtours examined his possible promotion to captain and realised that the qualifications may be fake. The matter is now being investigated by the Civil Aviation Authority according to PA News.

A spokesperson for Airtours International stated that the pilot's qualifications had been in order when he was hired two years ago



http://www.oig.dot.gov/item.jsp?id=2017

OIG identified the falsifications during a joint review of airmen's medical certifications in Northern California conducted with the SSA Office of Inspector General. FAA performed an emergency revocation on Pennington's licenses and certifications. "Operation Safe Pilot" resulted in 45 pilots being charged with making false statements. One pilot died while under investigation and 43 pilots entered into plea agreements with the U.S. Attorneys' Offices. Pennington will be the last pilot in the operation to be sentenced