MOSCOW, June 19. /TASS/. Russia’s Transport Ministry is conducting systematic work with the aviation industry to enhance flight safety, a participant in the meeting held on June 18 and chaired by Transport Minister Yevgeny Ditrikh told TASS on Wednesday.
"The meeting discussed measures to improve all the elements of the work of the domestic civilian aviation industry. Specially, the meeting’s participants spoke about the constant systematic work to enhance aviation safety," the source said.
"It is necessary to immediately respond to the flash of any ‘red indicator.’ It is necessary to rule out the accumulation of factors whose critical mass may cause an air incident… For this purpose, the meeting’s participants are developing their corresponding plans of work in each of their spheres," the source said.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the Transport Ministry, the Industry and Trade Ministry, the Federal Agency for Air Transport (Rosaviatsiya), the Federal Service for Transport Supervision (Rostransnadzor), the state air transport corporations, Aeroflot airline, Sheremetyevo airport and Sukhoi Civilian Aircraft Company.
"The meeting discussed not only measures to improve personnel training but also the need to make the documents regulating processes in the aviation industry to fully respond to the challenges of time and safety requirements. Requirements will be set to domestic producers to develop special, including rescue, equipment. The meeting said that the heads of various structural units in the aviation industry should personally participate in the most active way in all such measures," the source told TASS.
The meeting noted that a comprehensive and self-critical approach to any aspects of raising aviation safety is an unconditional and unifying priority for all participants of the aviation industry, from traffic control and aerodrome services to airlines, aircraft producers, inspecting, controlling and licensing authorities, training and certifying centers.
Ideas to improve aviation legislation
After the SSJ-100 airliner’s crash at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport on May 5, the Russian government instructed the Transport Ministry to submit proposals on improving air carriage. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev instructed the Transport Ministry to submit, if necessary, the ideas of improving the legislation on air safety, considering the SSJ-100 crash.
A Sukhoi Superjet-100 belonging to Aeroflot airlines, which took off from Moscow’s Sheremetyevo for Murmansk on May 5, had to return to the airport about 30 minutes after its flight, making an emergency landing and subsequently bursting into flames. There were 73 passengers and five crewmembers aboard the plane. In all, 41 people died in the air crash, and 10 others were hospitalized.
Investigators have opened a criminal case over flight safety violations and breaches in aircraft operation that entailed the death of two and more people through negligence. Detectives are looking into several versions of the incident, including pilot incompetence, a technical failure and unfavorable weather conditions.