Russian Pilot Training

Average flight hours have recovered from the lows of the late 90s early 2000s.....
The primary reason of this, is the resumption of regular fuel deliveries to airbases. This is Russia we are talking about, fuel is not scarce .

The big bombers have among the most flight hours btw, but the average for fighter pilots is/already has crossed about 100 hours yearly, and is supposed to keep increasing. Keep in mind supposed "NATO averages" are not all that themselves...

Also you may want to remind this charter of the numerous large scale air and ground manuevers carried out by Russia in recent years, "Center", "Peace Mission", etc.

I remember one airbase that was near me a year back. The pilots took their Su-33s for a spin every 3 days or so; sometimes for what seemed like hours. Then again it was Russia's carrier air-wing, no doubt that they are among the best trained with the highest amount of flight hours.

Well first of all the stocks of dumb unguided weapons was enormous and even when there wasn't a huge amount of fuel available for training, there were quite a few conflicts where large amounts of ordinance was used in former Soviet states to keep the peace or deal with problems.

These days there are still a lot of single role aircraft from the 1980s in service, but they generally have two seat operational trainers, and the integration of electronic flight simulators is drastically increased.

Existing stocks of old dumb ordinance is still very high but money is being spent on modern precision guided weapons... which is new. Along with these new weapons are new aircraft with new electronics that allow simulated releases so real weapons only need to be occasionally used in training. For general training simulations are sufficient, so when major exercises come around some real ordinance can be used.

I would also suggest that especially in the far flung bases that are no where near urban areas that flight time is also far more efficient. Firing ranges will be nice and close to air bases so unlike a German pilot that has to wait till they are selected to fly in Canada so they can go supersonic at low level or high levels, the average Russian pilot probably has less transit time and is able to perform flight practise in much wider ranges of his aircraft's flight envelope... including the edges.

I would say that I would much rather be a Russian pilot right now than a US or UK or even French pilot, because although the last few decades have been hard there is money actually being spent and new equipment and weapons and aircraft entering service... including for the first time a dedicated Russian lead in fighter trainer that can simulate the flight characteristics of a wide range of aircraft and also offer weapons training.

The operational flight trainer for the Su-35s are Su-30MKIs, they will have either Mig-29M2s or Mig-35s in single seat and two seat versions, so unlike previous operational training aircraft like the Mig-29UB these new aircraft are fully combat capable, so when not used for training they can be used for other missions.

Young pilots run from the Air Force

Pilots refuse to serve in combat units, preferring civilian airlines

Due to the imperfection of allowance Russian Air Force began to lose young staff. As told to "News" source in the Air Force, out of 80 young pilots enrolled in Air Force combat units in the past year, nearly 60 have already begun to quit, not having served in the Army for a year. Unless things change, the 2015 Army loses almost 70% of front-line pilots.

Pilots themselves explain that they had been cheated of money and made it impossible to fly.

- Last year when we released, we were promised that with the January 1, 2012 will receive 100 thousand rubles. Actually received about 60 thousand rubles. And now also changed the rate of pay: Now, if we do not fly 100 hours on your hands will get only 37 thousand I'd rather go to the "Aeroflot", - told the "News" Su-25 pilot, who now runs to commercial lines in the process of resigning his commission.

He explained that 70% of the salary supplement is a pilot combatant "for special conditions of service" and the prize "for the faithful and efficient performance of official duties." They are payed only to those who carried out the allowed flight hours per year. And from January 1, 2012 this rate was 100 hours per year for tactical aviation pilots. It is so much to spend in the air, everyone who flies on fighters "Suhkoi" and "MiGs" - Su-27, MiG-29, MiG-31, etc.

In this case, if the pilots of transport aircraft, the conducting of a flight of 2-3 hours, to meet the norm is not difficult (for IL-76, Tu-154 aircraft and other transport rate of 140-150 hours, which is 50-60 flights), the pilots -fighters who spend in the air, only 20-30 minutes for the flight to fly 100 hours needed to make 200 sorties.

- Even if we take an hour a day is needed to fly 100 days a year. But we have no one to fly so often does, - the lieutenant.

The commander of a squadron of bombers said to "News" that does not let the youngsters at the helm of the Air Force was led to the heavy-1990s, when it is not enough fuel and serviceable machines (often in the air regiment was no more than 2-3 serviceable aircraft). Now due poor payment of young pilots.

- Due to the released hours senior pilots get an extra touch, sit on the qualification requirements "pilot-sniper", "pilot-instructor," etc. and accordingly their pay increases significantly - a source explained, "Izvestia".

According to him, in February 2012 on a single Russian aircraft carrier "Admiral Kuznetsov" flight hours reserved for the young ship's pilots, commanders have been rewritten in the 279th regiment of the individual. Because of this, the young do not have access to an independent flight and upon return to port was transferred from the naval aviation.

- And this happens everywhere, - said the source, "Izvestia".

But in addition to problems with money from January 1, 2012 were added, and everyday problems.

- Not only have we abolished free transportation to the place of leave (except remote areas), and reduced medical care for family members, since late last year stopped issuing flight form - suits, jackets and shoes. You have to buy with your own money. With all of this can be tolerated only if the pay is high, - said the squadron commander.

In the civilian airline pilots paid 240 thousand rubles per month (for the first lieutenant, who had just started to fly), free medical care, free flights to anywhere, including abroad, subsidized mortgages and other bonuses.

The only way to retire young pilots - is to become unsuitable for health. In this case, they must be translated into a ground operation, and from there the pilot has the right to refuse. Currently only one third of the branches of the Central Military Clinical Hospital named after Vishnevsky air-flight Committee (WFC) have not been 28 young lieutenants.

All in all, from the beginning of the year WFC country have not been about 300 pilots, navigators and other crew members of aircraft. Of these, about 60 military personnel - pilots a 2010-2011 release. For comparison, last year, WFC did not pass 75 people, of which the young lieutenant was only seven.

In addition, because of the age and health is deducted each year about 15 experienced pilots. In 2015, about 350 pilots have to leave the helm because of the ultimate service life of 25 years.

At the same flight school until 2003, released a total of 100 pilots, and in 2003 produced an average of about 270 professionals, of whom only 80 sit at the helm. The rest are appointed by the navigators, aircraft operators, etc. To teach them to drive their own aircraft, will take about two years of additional training.


Alexei Mikhailov

http://izvestia.ru/news/531968

Good insight up there Vlad. So now the problem lies in salary.

I said the pay criteria was corrupt from the beginning and now look at the results. Grandfathers hog all the hours but there is nothing left when they leave. The case here might be overstated though as 37,000 roubles is still good money outside big cities. No one can expect VVS to pay commercial pilot salary and those jobs are rather limited. I never made more than half that in combat pay. The reward system needs to not be based on hours as pilots have no control over how many they get.

Disgraceful but yeah, the reforms certainly did come with the withdrawal of many privileges such as free transport and some such. On the whole most of the officers and NCOs that I heard, bemoan the painful and disorganised process of reform, as well as the very real possibility of being dismissed from service, the higher physical standards and normatives that have to be adhered to, the 'by the book' discipline that they have to have over the conscript soldiers and making sure that there are no bruises on them, all the tests & drills of their skills and proffessionalism that they now have to pass and keep passing, the stricter regulations and just in general what is required and expected of them is higher now. And all this is a pain in the ass for them as it was all ignored before and everyone was used to living on easy street.

However just about everyone looking forward to the higher salaries. The main benefits such as medical cover, free food rations (plenty of them) and so on are still there and in some areas there have been improvements too such as accomodation/housing benefits, particularly for long-serving servicemen.

But of course if they are being cheated on the salary then it all becomes pretty untolerable though doesn't it.

The low number of graduates at Ryzan NCO course is abysmal. I fear this Army will never be professional.

Vladimir79 wrote:The low number of graduates at Ryzan NCO course is abysmal. I fear this Army will never be professional.

Wouldn't worry about it - the momentum for reform is here. A new problem crops up every week, but the Russian leadership and MoD is determined to follow through; which means that a solution will be found regardless.

http://sdelanounas.ru/blogs/25568/

Flight hours increased in 2012, for an average of 125/pilot in the Western Military District.
Pilots from Kursk (MiG-29SMT) flew an average of 150 hours.
The helicopter base @ Vyazma reported more than 215 hours.
Transport aviation units had a minimum of 170 hours.

I suspect those figures are higher than NATO figures for aircrew not on active duty (ie at home in training).

This is very good news.

GarryB wrote:I suspect those figures are higher than NATO figures for aircrew not on active duty (ie at home in training).

This is very good news.

Those numbers are very good, yes. I do wonder how they compare to European NATO air forces, I imagine there's probably not that much of a difference. US pilots get something like 250-300 hours per year depending on the platform, but there are often a lot of reasons for the disparities that do not necessarily indicate anything significant. More hours does not necessarily equate to more useful training, especially when you have to fly one or two hours just to reach an ACMI or bombing range.

And yes, the black coatings in the BLACKJACK intakes are in fact RAM. This is why you used to see operational BLACKJACKs on display with covers over the intakes.

To revive an old thread...
Anyone knows how much flight hours are pilots getting in the RuAF currently?
Would be interesting to know/compare to previous year(s).
Cheers