Alphabet: a - aviation

On the air, the new section of your beloved samizdat “Batenka, you are a transformer” - “alphabet”. Every Tuesday, her host Sasha, will tell you about the word for a new letter. Today the word on “A” is “aviation”. Inventory of the state of the domestic aircraft industry: the airline lacks pilots, and those pilots that are, train on old simulators and fall asleep at the helm of processing, air carriers find loopholes in the law, airplane plants rot from unemployment, and passengers manually pushed the aircraft that was frozen to the runway, and a lot, and a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot. Much more. Tu-104 is the best plane.

On Saturday, October 31, I raised my mother and mother’s ears, finding out the middle name and date of the birth of Vadi Misha, our uncle relative, whom I personally saw the last time more than five years ago, but with whom my homes living in Tula communicate. Then I called the Hot line of the Ministry of Emergencies and for twenty minutes listened to funny music on the call. Perhaps the Ministry of Emergencies believe that this is not at all funny, but pacifying, or soothing, or some kind of quite appropriate music there. And I imagined how to listen to this melody for people whose parents, spouses, children, brothers, sisters, in general, their relatives and loved ones had to return to the tanned and hotels from Sharm El Sheikh to St. Petersburg. But they did not return. I called the Ministry of Emergencies, because in the list of the dead I accidentally saw a very rare familiar surname, the initial also coincided. Twenty minutes later, the operator informed me that M is not Mikhail and the date of birth is different. This time passed by. Relatives and beloved 224 people who died in the collapse of the A321 passenger liner over the Sinai Peninsula cannot.

I will not put forward versions about the reasons for the largest airline in the history of Russia, our samizdat, like everyone else, awaits the end of the MAC investigation - the Interstate Aviation Committee - and the public version. This tragedy once again showed how many completely crazy problems in modern Russian reality - from the deplorable state of the entire air traffic and ending with the attractions of unprecedented hypocrisy and the competition “who will be praise whom” .

At the same time, there was no official statement and condolences from the President of the Russian Federation, and the crowds of sofa experts rushed to tell that in an accident, much more people were dying every year and where then your daily mourning, and so on and so on. Well, the planes really to this day remain the safest mode of transport, and incomparably fewer people died in plane crashes than in the same accident or as a result of criminal and domestic killings . True, the planes in the world are incomparably fewer than cars. But try to imagine what it is: to realize that the multi -ton colossus in which you are in, right now, right the next second will fall into parts at the height, which fall from which, no longer survive, not to mention the fact that it is impossible to even breathe on it. Here she is death, she came, and you will not do anything at all, you can’t even try to taxi to another strip, leave the oncoming lane, and avoid a frontal clash. Introduced?

For incomplete twenty -seven years, I got into serious accidents twice, an explosion of household gas took place in the apartment next to mine, I fainted several times and broke my head, once spilled out of the kettle, the burner faded the fire, and I noticed it only when it was already overwhelmed by the rushing gas, and the cat began to yell with a fool, another time I was so unsuccessful, I was so unsuccessful I swallowed the syrup from coughing that for several seconds I could not breathe and even managed to think that it would be the most stupid death in the world. And the number of corpses I saw near these incomplete twenty -seven years has already exceeded a dozen. So, I understand perfectly - any of us has much more chances to die on earth than in the sky. Moreover, right now, while you are reading this text, someone is flying somewhere on the aircraft of Kogalymavia airline , which belonged to a liner crashed on Saturday. What to do? You have to fly.

So what's the matter? Perhaps, in the indulgence of a Russian person who is ready to sit on an airplane that does not comply with security standards, ready to pilot aircraft that does not meet security standards, ready to operate a plane that does not comply with security standards, ready for the sake of a bribe to certify the aircraft that does not comply with security standards?

But in childhood, someded a song about the Tu-104, which the best plane and never falls on the motive of the funeral march? At school, we sang it to everyone who said that on vacation they fly with parents at sea. I’m still going to board, whether it be a Boeing, Airbus, Tu-134 or Tu-154, or any other plane, I quietly sing it under my breath. Do not think, I’m not afraid to fly at all, moreover, I had to fly almost on the next day after a plane crash, and even the same airlines that appeared in the news. I flew “ Siberia ”, and “ KatEcavia ”, and “ Uutir ”. I love airports, I love planes, I like to fly, but each time, sitting down in a chair and singing a song about the Tu-104, I realize that in the next four hours my life may well end and nothing else depends on me at all. I am a fatalist.

But what happens at this moment on Earth? And the following occurs on Earth: most of the air parks of Russian airlines over fifteen years old, but this is not so scary. It is terrible that even large airlines buying planes and details for them abroad are not enough pilots; that the pilots train on morally and physically outdated simulators; That air carriers find loopholes for bypassing laws that allow them to reduce the staff, and this leads to the fatigue factor when the pilots literally fall asleep at the helm. The operator’s license can be bought and extended, even having catastrophic violations, and due to the lack of demand, the manufacturers of aircraft are closed, as a result of which the courts are still in operation of the courts, to modify and stand up. Agree, it is pretty cheerful to read the news about how passengers “ started a pusher ” with a plane, which had taken place to the runway, or about how the next “dry”, when rushing in Moscow, fell off part of the engine , but they found it only after landing in Kiev. And how scary it is to recall the collapse of the same “dry” during indicative flights in Indonesia , or the death of the Lokomotiv hockey team , or about the disaster in Smolensk , as a result of which Polish President and most of the Polish elite died.

The Tu-104, which is the best plane, has long been discontinued and disabled. It was replaced by wide -body -body aircraft of foreign production. But, for example, small yaks and ANES, and often even that Soviet assembly, are still used in civil aviation, including in the countries of the post -Soviet space.

In 2006, I traveled around Tajikistan and flew from Dushanbe to Khujand, a former Leninabad, on a forty-seater Yak-40, and two days later-on a forty-sized An-24. When the Yak-40 lay on the wing on the wing, I felt scared. When the plywood An-24 did the same, I realized that she was death and she came. Not only that forty minutes of flight, this flying stool was constantly shaking in a large tremor, and somewhere in the tail of the hens the hens, which were traveling there in the cages, so during the very reversal of forty-six Tajiks flying with me in their seats, had their heads in the plywood ceiling and began to pray, bringing their hands to pray. persons. So we flew - the Tajiks prayed, the hens clutched, I howled, and my mother, who was sitting next to me, laughed. She is also a fatalist. But besides this, also an engineer. She understands that the ongoing vibration for the An-24, which began to fly long before the collapse of the Union, is normal. I will not be surprised if this old man still flies and carries chickens.

Contrary to loud statements coming from the State Duma , the age of the aircraft speaks little about his security. Unlike the passport of the aircraft. And if you think that the passport of the aircraft is such a thick notebook or even a book, you are mistaken. The passport of the aircraft is a lot of documentation. The aircraft passport includes passports of all parts and nodes of which it consists. The passport of each detail is indicated when and where it was made, when its operation began, when the part was checked, cleaned, moved, lubricated, modified, and most importantly, when, through how many flight hours, the service life of this part will end.

Current marks are constantly included in the passports of parts. Airplanes regularly undergo inspections and diagnostics . They are divided into several levels, among which current, or transit, checks carried out before each take -off; as well as daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly checks. Some of them can be carried out in the open air, others in special hangars on the territory of the airports of postscript.

But the most interesting thing occurs during more complex forms of maintenance, requiring temporary disruption of operation aircraft, the so-called C-Check and D-Check. The first lasts from two weeks to a month, the second-an average of about a month, a half-pastor. During the D-Check, the aircraft is sent to the manufacturer or to a specialized hangar of the engineering company, of which there is nothing negligible in Russia (technically-one that includes several daughters). There, the aircraft practically understands the details, each of which is checked, cleaned, lubricated and tested. Then the aircraft gathers back, spoiled or served their parts are replaced, the ship continues to fly. Let me remind you: for thirty or sorroks it idle. This simple and necessary and necessary, and does not happen so often - once every few years. However, during this forced downtime, the aircraft does not bring profit.

Now imagine: here I have an airplane. And you have an airplane. You and I have the same planes. And now my plane becomes on D-Check. And at the same time, your plane breaks. Not all. Suppose one part is out of order. Maybe not even the engine, in the end, is there enough expensive details in the plane? Or maybe the engine. You do not have a spare, because having a spare is very expensive. There is no money for the purchase of a new one right now. Repair for a long time and expensive. Your plane, like mine, is idle, but you have to fly. But mine is idle, and yours are unscheduled. And here it is an intermediary who tells you: “Sasha now has an airplane on disassembly, and the engine has already been checked and everything is fine with it.” Then he tells me: “You still do not have a month to fly anywhere, it is disassembled from you to the screw. Land engine? Return after thirty days - I give a tooth! ” And you argue: “Why is it? The engine is not left, the engine is good, it does not need it, and I fly, thirty extra days in ten years-what is it about? ” And I reason: “Why is it? I do not make a substitution of counterfeit? And I don’t get along with him, but a normal engine. I do not need it, but it will fly. Only thirty extra days in ten years, what is it about? ” Naturally, all this happens "past the box office." According to the documents, my engine lies in the hangar, and yours fly. In fact, the opposite is true. And my engine becomes thirty days older than its passport. A trifle, right?

The same trifle as anti -icing fluid, on which in this country they constantly save. In 2012, Sergei Nedoroslev, the founder of the Cascool group of companies, specializing in business in the field of aviation technologies, the co -owner of DEXTER, which provides Aviataxi services, is in an interview with The New Times (Caution! Paywall! Excuse us) said the following: “When I fly in winter, I always watch the plane anti -regenerative fluid: if not They save, water abundantly - I’m flying, and if I see that for a checkmark, I’m going back to the airport terminal. ” Anti -icing liquid can save your life. Or it may not be saved if, for example, it will not be distorted, or a counterfeit is brought, or not much will be delivered.

In 2010, I was going to celebrate the New Year in Paris. We had a hotel booked, excursions were ordered. My mother and I had to walk around Paris from December 26 to January 3. After spending three days in Sheremetyevo, having received a coupon that our flight did not fly out, we arrived on December 30 to friends in Kyiv by train to celebrate the New Year with them. Because we never got to Paris, and at home in the suburbs we did not have not only Christmas trees and food, but even electricity-because of the power lines that broke out after the icy rain.

For three days to Sheremetyevo, we were transplanted from the Air France flight to Aeroflot flight, which also did not fly anywhere, we slept on the dead tapes of transporters, at this time distraught from the unknown, lack of elementary food and water, a boorish attitude and spoiled plans, people took the administration, I ran away with a photo equipment from The cops who tried to take this camera from me, and my mother counted losses and scandalized the phone with a travel agent and a tour operator, when everything, including Air France and Lufthansa, brought themselves an anti -icing and flew away, and Aeroflot continued to put passengers in airplanes, keep them there for six hours And plant it back. Sometimes I wonder, anyone except us could achieve compensation? Because we still flew to Paris, without paying any money to anyone, however, not for the New Year, but only in the spring. And only because my mother is an engineer and knows when the force majeure ends and negligence begins.

Despite the vicissitudes of my relations with Russian aviation, the details of which I will not bore you, I still love to fly. Despite the plane crashes in which tens and hundreds of people die , I continue to fly. I don’t know how many more aircraft should break, fall apart in the air, crash up, roll out from the runway, or fall on the house, so that in this country they stop stealing, giving and taking bribes, putting counterfeit, which served their or obsolete parts in the warehouse. But I know that with the purchase of a minimum air park (now it is eight aircraft), with the design of all the necessary licenses and certificates, with maintenance, and most importantly, with all the inevitable bribes and kickbacks, the cost of the owner of the aviation business pays off only after decades, if he does not have time to go broke by then, paying interest on a loan, or simply spit on everything. In this country, it is very easy to be faced with a choice: to be a scum that risks the safety of its passengers, or to be bankrupt.

Everything is simple with us: if you have something, you most likely either go broke or sit down. I have nothing. And each time, climbing on board the aircraft, I quietly sing a song about the Tu-104 on the motive of the funeral march. For some reason, I am sure that I will die is not so, but somehow completely differently. And I still can’t understand what to do, just a girl, how in general these frauds are, in principle, they are able to climb into the air. I am sure that planes fly exclusively due to magic. At least in Russia - for sure.