It is no secret that many African countries live off small gold and diamond mining claims. Often the workings are located in the most remote places. And while large companies operate on almost all international airlines, there is no one to fly domestically. Here you can often see our former compatriots. For example, in Juba (Sudan), a Ukrainian pilot works, flying an An-2 single-handedly. The business is simple: a prospector is willing to pay up to $500 for a "ticket" home. Up to thirty passengers can be squeezed into the plane. What aviation safety can we talk about?
"The War of Consumer Goods"
The demand for our pilots is especially high where there is a war. It is impossible to do without transporting troops and ammunition by air. In such conditions, it is most profitable to hire our compatriots even taking into account the "risk premium".
Here is the story told to Itogi by Il-76 loadmaster Mikhail Vorontsov. An English businessman who introduced himself as David approached a large Russian airline specializing in passenger and cargo transportation. He wanted to lease an Il-76 for four months – to transport consumer goods and food on domestic flights in Zimbabwe. The company signed the contract without unnecessary red tape and leased the crew along with the aircraft.
At a military airfield in Zimbabwe, the aircraft was met by a compatriot – Alexei, who after a similar assignment stayed in the country for organizational work. Alexei introduced the crew to another Englishman – one Lewis, who represented the lessee. The Briton took their passports and quartered the crew in a small barracks right on the airfield premises.
After the very first flight, it became clear that there was no question of transporting consumer goods domestically. For all four months, the Russian Il-76 carried military cargo from Zimbabwe to the Congo (at that time Zimbabwe was participating in the civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo). With all the ensuing consequences.
The crew's passports were returned only when the pilots were leaving Zimbabwe. And to replace them, an Il-76 from Novosibirsk flew in, supposedly sent on assignment... by the Russian Ministry of Defense!
Today in hot spots of Africa and Asia one can encounter not only our pilots, but also aircraft of domestic aviation enterprises and ministries – everyone wants to earn foreign currency. These stories do not always have a happy ending.
In 1999, an An-12 aircraft with a Russian crew headed by commander Alexander Yudov was shot down in Angola. A rocket pierced the wing, the plane caught fire and fell. The crew escaped from the burning aircraft and were taken prisoner by UNITA partisans. The pilots spent a year in captivity and were freed at the cost of great effort. Of the five crew members, one died upon landing, another in captivity.
Used Equipment
However, sometimes the aircraft itself poses no less danger for our pilots. As a rule, in third world countries they fly on used aircraft. Many airlines do not send equipment that has exhausted its service life to the scrap heap, but sell the aircraft abroad. It is beneficial to both sides. The An is considered the most popular due to its ruggedness.
Pilot Sergei Kurakov told a story of how one of his acquaintances met his An-12 in Angola, which had been written off in Russia in 1992 after it had exhausted its service life. The new owners repainted the aircraft and hired a Russian crew, who repaired the plane on their own.
Generally speaking, the absence of a repair base is characteristic of the overwhelming majority of African and Asian countries. The pilots themselves do aircraft maintenance. "We simply transfer spare parts from one machine to another," says Sergei. "Practically at any airfield there are hulks of machines stripped for parts. And no one is surprised!"
A characteristic example: as early as 2000, the civil aviation authority of Angola banned the operation of An aircraft. The reasons were six consecutive flight incidents involving aircraft of this popular type, as well as the fact that by that year all Antonov aircraft in Angola had exhausted their service life, and most – more than once. Nevertheless, despite the ban, "Antonovs" continue to fly. And they continue to crash – in 2003, an An-12 piloted by a Russian crew crashed in the city of Menongue.
Another cause of aviation disasters is the lack of any infrastructure on domestic routes. Most airfields have no runway lighting at all, and landings can only be made during daylight hours. The lack of an air traffic control service is compensated by the fact that aircraft navigate using the GPS system. This sort of navigation is characteristic of wartime or unforeseen flight conditions. An incorrectly entered coordinate (and who in Africa has professionally measured them?) can lead to tragic consequences.
Cheap Labor
And yet, despite the risk, our compatriots go to Africa and Asia to earn money. It is easier for employers in developing countries to hire a well-trained specialist from the former Union than to spend large sums on training their own personnel. European pilots are, as a rule, unaffordable for the third world (the lower salary threshold is $120 thousand per year plus a social package). People from the CIS, meanwhile, are ready to work for a quarter of the salary of an American or European pilot.
"What is frightening is that, when hired to work in third world countries, pilots are left alone with the employer, without any social protection package," says Miroslav Boichuk. "Our pilots find themselves in unequal conditions with the employer, and then they have to make a deal with their conscience, risking their own lives and the lives of passengers." Often pilots work outside the established work and rest schedules, bypassing all aviation safety standards. Such working conditions are especially characteristic of African countries and Pakistan.
"The traditions of domestic aviation in these countries consist in the complete absence of any traditions. Therefore, in areas where there are no regular flights provided by foreign airlines, complete lawlessness reigns," asserts Boychuk. And still, for many of our pilots, this is better than being in an "aviation cover."
Dmitry Serkov,
Igor Nadezhdin.