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Airplaneski! Documentary
I saw this documentary a few months back and it was a sobering look into the state of Russian aviation after the break-up of the former Soviet Union. The documentary follows pilots, passengers, and stewardesses who fly the airline Aeroflot and details their struggles in transit, with crew training, in their personal lives, and financially. The video is pretty insightful... (www.youtube.com) Altro...
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I agree and I don't necessarily know if the aging fleets are a bad thing. I'm more worried about the leeway in terms of regulations during such economic troubles. If you watch til the end you see how they conducted their medical boards for pilots (their AMEs). Sad ending to see a pilot lose their medical.
As an FAA-licensed pilot and a frequent flyer of Aeroflot, Emirates, BA and Lufthansa, let me offer this comment: this video may offer some insights into what Russian civil aviation may have looked like 15-20 years ago, but the reality today is different. The flag carrier, Aeroflot, has long retired its fleet of Tupolev's and Ilyushin's and relies on a mix of Boeing and Airbus aircraft that's one of very recent vintages. Average pilot age is also remarkably young, and knowledge of English a career must for pilots. Regional carriers are also actively ditching Soviet vintage equipment and leasing B737s and A310s. Transaero, a runner-up to Aeroflot, has just signed up a contract to buy 4 A-380s. Money is no longer a constraining factor in Russia, by way of generalization.
Operationally, there are still issues, and culture will take time to evolve. Once in a while, operational lapses lead to accidents, and worse (witness recent ATP-72 crash due to iced wings – mis-described by a commenter below as A320), but the overall stats are not bad. For my regular Moscow-NYC flight, I'd rather fly with Aeroflot than Delta.
(small print: I am not an employee, shareholder or beneficiary of any kind of Aeroflot or any other Russian carrier)
Operationally, there are still issues, and culture will take time to evolve. Once in a while, operational lapses lead to accidents, and worse (witness recent ATP-72 crash due to iced wings – mis-described by a commenter below as A320), but the overall stats are not bad. For my regular Moscow-NYC flight, I'd rather fly with Aeroflot than Delta.
(small print: I am not an employee, shareholder or beneficiary of any kind of Aeroflot or any other Russian carrier)
Transaero also placed a recent order with Boeing for 4 new 787-8s too.
One hope is the fast switch over to western airliners. The rest -- well they need work. One Russian airline, Transaero, uses mainly western airlines and tries, according to articles I have read, tries to operate like modern western airlines. They recently have been acquiring ex Singapore Airline early 747-400s, 777-200s and 777-300s non ER versions.
Yea the ending is sad. He was my favorite guy.
I imagine today is a mix of the past and the present as more and more of the Soviet built aircraft are retired in favor of Boeing and Airbus aircraft.