How delighted the beasts were! They laughed and sang, Clapped their little ears, Stamped their little feet. Please forgive me, of course. Maybe I’m nitpicking. But I have a question for people who know about pilots and airplanes. Is it actually allowed to just go for a spin in a plane of ambition like that? Just get in and fly? An unauthorized person is in the cockpit. Mr. Putin, V.V. (Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin), one assumes, does not possess the necessary certificates, permits, or licenses.
Quite rightly, kashin reminds us: The main cause of the disaster was an unacceptable situation in which the aircraft commander allowed his fifteen-year-old son to take the controls of the airliner, and the boy’s inadvertent actions led to the partial disengagement of the autopilot. //////// Why are random people being allowed to take the controls? Besides, as has rightly been pointed out, it is genuinely unclear whether this is the seat of the co-pilot or of the aircraft commander. Someone wrote to me who is simply eager to get the Russian Federation transport prosecutor’s office to investigate this outrageous incident. A sensible wish for a conscientious citizen. If aviation professionals could drop some well-argued opinions and links to the current regulations in the comments, that would be great. For now, let’s set aside the question of why a Beriev Be-200 aircraft is being pulled away from its work and used as an amusement ride in Gorky Park (a famous Moscow park). Vedomosti expressed itself excellently on this point in a superb editorial: We hope the fires were not being saved up for the prime minister, much less deliberately set. We also hope that the prime minister, famed for his habit of running late, did not delay the next firefighting Be-200 sortie too much. The Ministry of Emergency Situations has only four of these aircraft, and only two are currently flying. And still—just imagine how many people must have been diverted to organize the visit, inspect the equipment, and provide security. Volunteer firefighters, who cannot get any coherent organization, buckets, or shovels from the Ministry of Emergency Situations and local administrations, may well envy the Chief Volunteer, who was given an airplane.</p> Let us hope that VVP (Putin’s initials in Russian) does not become fascinated with surgery and decide tomorrow, under the flash of photographers’ cameras, to perform heart operations as a “second surgeon.”