Kazakhstan needs aviation regiment

Former Kazakhstan Vice-Minister of Defense, Major General Amirbek Togussov supports the suggestion of the Majilis (Lower Chamber of Kazakhstan Parliament) to transfer of the whole military aviation fleet under the jurisdiction of one authority. Togussov suggested to create a special aviation regiment that will deal with checking technical condition of the airplanes owned by different authorities (Interior Ministry, Emergency Situations Ministry, National Security Commission) and with training of pilots and other flying personnel, he told Tengrinews.kz. Togussov believes that neither the Interior Ministry, nor the National Security Commission has good conditions for maintenance of their aircrafts. “We need to transfer the airplanes to the Air Defense Forces and, create a special aviation regiment that will include squadrons of the Emergency Situation Ministry, National Security Commission and Interior Ministry. This would be a normal military structure. The thing is that every ministry has its own aircrafts, however such an important detail as maintenance of these aircrafts is often overlooked: there is no special personnel, technical bases or bases for training of pilots to operate in different weather conditions,” Togussov said. He believes that lack of experience in landing planes in bad weather conditions was one of the reasons of the tragedy in Shymkent. “AN-72 planes are quite reliable, they fly everywhere in the world. They have a short run and many other advantages. But I think that the aircraft navigation systems of these planes are outdated. For comparison: a Canadian aircraft with an up-to-date avionics landed successfully (in Shymkent airport) right after the plane (that crashed near Shymkent) attempted landing. The fact that the plane approached to land several times shows that its navigation system was bad,” Togussov said. The former Vice-Minister deems it necessary to perform re-assessment of the technical and flying personnel and check all the vehicles. All flights of the authorities should be suspended for a period, he says. “But of course, it is a long and costly option,” Togussov stated. After the tragedy in Shymkent Kazakhstan MP Bakhytzhan Yertayev suggested to transfer all military aviation under control of the Defense Ministry. The AN-72 military plane of the Border Control Service of Kazakhstan National Security Commission crashed at 06:55 p.m. on December 25, 20km from Shymkent airport. The plane had 7 crew members and 20 militarymen onboard, including the acting head of the Border Control Service of Kazakhstan National Security Commission Turganbek Stambekov and his wife. By Roza Yessenkulova