MOSCOW - Some 80% of air crashes are caused by erroneous actions of personnel in organizing and making flights, Russian Prosecutor General Yury Chaika said in his annual report at the Federation Council.
"An inspection indicated than the existing system of assigning qualifications to employees in the aviation sector and allowing them to work does not comply with the requirements of national air legislation or intentional standards," Chaika said.
He said the prosecutor’s office uncovered instances of aviation authorities allowing flights by individuals lacking the required flight hours. It also discovered that the educational institutions training pilots do not have the necessary human resources or technical potential.
"Moreover for several years certificates were issued to pilots without required flight hours and as a result pilots with actual experience of 60 hours instead of the necessary 150 hours were allowed to transport passengers," Chaika said.
"The inspections identified numerous decisions by the aviation authorities to prolong the certificates of operators despite their unstable financial status and insolvency carriers which led to the massive violation of passengers’ rights," he said.
Chaika also spoke of problems in water transport. He said that two accidents were registered last year in which 123 people died.
The large-scale inspection following the sinking of MS Bulgaria uncovered numerous offenses: ships were used without permits, with insufficient staffing, in excess of permitted passenger-capacity, and without required lifesaving appliances.
"This is an indication of the slackening of state control and oversight in this sphere. This situation became possible largely as a result of regulatory shortcomings," he said.
