Russian Pilots Training

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

Initial flight practice in military schools of the Russian Federation resumed after a three-year hiatus

Plane initial flight training is still the L-39 "Albatros", but on the fourth and fifth courses of future pilots should gradually develop new training and combat Yak-130

Tikhoretsky / Krasnodar / 26 May. / TASS /. Initial flight practice in Russian military schools resumed after a three-year break - their first flights on the L-39 aircraft made aviation cadets Krasnodar School. Serov. He told reporters today the Commander of the Air Force - Deputy Commander of the Air Force Space Russian Andrey Yudin.

"Today is a great day for all the Air-space forces of Russia - for the first time after three years in the air alone soared young guys who ever replace us in our line of duty," - said Yudin.

He recalled that the first flight is always preceded by theoretical training throughout the two years of study. Summer practice at the third, fourth and fifth courses begins with the spring and continues until the end of September.

"We have reached a good competition pilot training This allows us to select the best during training, for which we will not worry This is the most important in the performance of combat missions..", - Said the general.

see also
Aerospace Russian forces have received more than 60 combat training aircraft Yak-130

Plane initial flight training is still the L-39 "Albatros", but on the fourth and fifth courses of future pilots should gradually develop new training and combat Yak-130. "Every year on the plan in Borisoglebsk and Armavir arrive at least ten aircraft Yak-130" - reminded Yudin.

In addition, in the next few years in schools await the start of deliveries of the Yak-152 aircraft, the general added. Earlier it was reported that the flight tests of the new machine should begin in the summer. Adopt aircraft planned for the winter.


Подробнее на ТАСС:
https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http://tass.ru/armiya-i-opk/3315838&usg=ALkJrhjUlXOkxRUfVWwQ6660HAtRR99wCA

In Russia, will begin to train female military pilots

As reported by the TASS agency on August 12, 2017, the Krasnodar Aviation School for the first time in the newest Russian history will recruit girls for training in military pilots. This was stated on Saturday by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

"There are a huge number of girls who would like to become military pilots, we received hundreds of letters, so we decided - this year we will recruit the first group of girls to the Krasnodar Military Aviation School," the minister said.

"There will not be many of them - 15 people, but given the number of applications received to the Air and Space Forces, we can not but answer these requests, so from October 1 this year the first group of girls will start training for military pilots, - added Shoigu.

The Minister, who visited the celebration of the Day of Aerospace Forces in Patriot Park on August 12, expressed his hope that in five years the graduates of the school "will decorate such a holiday with their skill."

In 2009, the Krasnodar Aviation School already recruited a student, but not for flying specialties.

http://bmpd.livejournal.com/2784258.html

The Krasnodar Military Aviation School accepted replenishment of future combat pilots

According to the portal "MK.ru", another 15 girls were given the opportunity to become military aces. Now in the Krasnodar Higher Military Pilot School named after Serov will win the peaks of the skill of combat piloting 31 young beauty. On September 1, two courses of young pilots officially started their studies. To get acquainted with the future pilots, the landing of the Public Council at the Ministry of Defense arrived on the Krasnodar territory. The goal was outlined by the Chairman of the Council - Glavred "MK" Pavel Gusev: to see with their own eyes how the future rulers of the sky comprehend flight science.



https://bmpd.livejournal.com/3325316.html

Results of combat training of the Air Force of the Air Forces of Russia in 2018

As the Department of Information and Mass Communications of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported on December 4, 2018, the command of the Air Force of the Russian Aerospace Forces summed up the results for 2018.

In 2018 academic year, the main efforts in the training of the Air Force of the VKS focused on maintaining the achieved level and flight crew training to perform tasks for the mission, preparing young crews for combat single day and night in simple and complex meteorological conditions and improving the qualification categories of flight composition.

The personnel of the air force took part in many combat training activities, the main of which were: the Vostok-2018 maneuvers, a special exercises exercise for the air forces in preparation for the Vostok-2018 maneuvers, an air skills training contest the Aviadarts flight crews, the BARS-2018 and Aviaindra-2018 international maneuvers, tactical flight exercises in formations and units of long-range and military transport aircraft, as well as in aviation units of the air forces and air defense armies of military districts, etc.

All the tasks in these events are completed in full and with high quality.

The flight plan in the 2018 school year was fully implemented, the total flight time increased by more than 6,000 hours compared to 2017. The average flight time per pilot was more than 100 hours, for a young pilot - graduate of 2017 more than 120 hours.

https://bmpd.livejournal.com/3441290.html

Changing the course of flight training at military aviation schools

The Izvestia newspaper published the article by Roman Kretsul and Alexei Ramm, “Accelerated Take-Off: Future Pilots Will Be Put at the Helm a Year Earlier.” Flight practice in aviation military schools will start from the second year, ”which states that cadets of Russian military aviation schools will be allowed to take part in their first flights a year earlier. Future pilots will begin flying practice from the second year, and not from the third, as now. This will provide better training for pilots and give them more hours of flight. According to experts, the new system will save serious money: students who are at odds with the sky will simply be weeded out earlier.


From the second year

The first practical flights will begin with second-year cadets this spring, sources in the Ministry of Defense told Izvestia. So early young people were not imprisoned at the helm since the days of the USSR. Second-year students who will go to serve in military transport aviation will also fly.

Previously, cadets lifted the plane into the sky at the end of the third course. They underwent initial training on L-39 aircraft, which since Soviet times were manufactured in Czechoslovakia (since 1993 in the Czech Republic) specifically for training military pilots of the Warsaw Pact countries. Cadets who are preparing for service in military transport aviation begin to fly on the L-410.

Students of the fourth and fifth courses are waiting for the Yak-130 helm. This is the first completely new, not modernized, machine created in Russia. On the Yak-130, undergraduates practice relatively complex maneuvers, control aircraft in extreme conditions, actions in case of equipment failure, the use of weapons and much more. Future pilots of military transport aviation in senior courses fly on the An-26.

Earlier, the head of the Krasnodar Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots, Major General Sergey Rumyantsev, said that the cadets will begin their first flights this year on light DA-42 aircraft. This machine weighs just over 1.2 tons, has two engines and a glass cabin providing 360-degree visibility. The flight range is about 1.5 thousand kilometers, the maximum height is about 5 thousand meters.

The aircraft, which will be the first for future VKS pilots, is assembled at the Ural Civil Aviation Plant from kits supplied by the Austrian company Diamond Aircraft Industries.

For a smaller account

Until this year, cadets had to calculate flight parameters manually, which required a longer theoretical preparation, honored test pilot, Hero of Russia Igor Malikov told Izvestia. According to him, now all complex calculations are performed by computer programs, so students can be put at the helm earlier.

- For a young man who enrolled in a flight school, waiting for flights for two years is not very correct. I started flying from the second course, - said Igor Malikov. - In Soviet times, there were even experiments when practice began right from the first year. But still, it’s better for a person to be given the opportunity to adapt, and only then to entrust the plane.

The new system has undeniable advantages, the former commander of the 4th Army of the Air Force and Air Defense, Hero of Russia, Lieutenant General Valery Gorbenko told Izvestia.

“Immediately after the first year of study there will be a large dropout, and this will help to adjust the recruitment for the next year,” the general explained. - The fact is that not everyone can fly. And you can find out only by entrusting the steering wheel to the cadet. Some by nature are not given to determine, for example, the leveling height or the speed of approach to the ground. And in combat aircraft without these qualities it is better not to land - they do not forgive such mistakes. Not everyone can withstand serious overloads, which means that they will not be able to control a combat vehicle either.


Flight savings

Cadets who have successfully learned all the subjects, but have been unsuitable for practical flights, are written off or released as officers of the combat command. If this question arises only at the end of the third year, it turns out that three years both the student and the state spent not in the most efficient way. And besides, the man all this time took the place of the one who could fly.

Under the new system, it will be possible to weed out cadets unsuitable for flights much earlier. This will save money on training pilots, said Valery Gorbenko.

- Medical commissions seriously select cadets, but still not all the nuances are immediately visible. The dropout is pretty big. In my course, 230 people were recruited, and only 130 were graduated, that is, almost half dropped out.

Last year, the Ministry of Defense seriously took care of the problem with the state of training aircraft in military universities. According to Izvestia sources, L-39 annually develop their resources, and the factories do not have time to return them to service and supply components in the proper amount. Only 30% of repaired aircraft arrive back at the parks on time. Now the VKS is armed with about 150 vehicles of this type. In September, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu dealt with the situation. In December, the head of the military department reported the problem to the board, which was held by the president. He said that operational aviation is 58% operational, and 56% for Yak-130 aircraft.

By the mid-2010s, the situation in the VKS had a difficult situation with personnel. During the reforms, the number of military schools decreased, and recruitment to flight schools was not carried out for several years. As a result, a serious personnel shortage arose. At the same time, accident rate also increased - for example, in the summer of 2015, a whole series of serious air accidents occurred in a month in which six aircraft were lost.

At the beginning of 2017, Sergei Shoigu stated that the shortage in the troops was about 1.3 thousand pilots. To eliminate the problem, they urgently extended the service life of the flight personnel and sharply increased their enrollment in universities. In the main training center of the Air Force - the Krasnodar School - the number of cadets over four years has increased from 25 to 600 people. Now about a thousand pilots come to the troops every year.

https://bmpd.livejournal.com/3946936.html

Classes on the Su-34 simulator at the Aviation Branch school of navigators in Chelyabinsk

Also pretty terrible to hear old timers screwing younger generations.

It happens everywhere in life... old school boys bully the young ones because that is what their old boys did to them... CEOs get big bonuses and special holidays like the CEOs did before them, while the people talking to the customers doing the real work would struggle to get a week off if they needed it, and they would be paid minimum wage if the CEOs could get away with it.

Many consider it is the benefit of being a senior... just a perk, and justify it by saying it is tradition and was done to them so why should they miss out... the young people who stick it out will get to do it to their juniors... we didn't complain so we should be allowed to do it. This generation wants to complain... well the simple end to this circle of abuse is that they can choose not to do it when they become seniors and the problem is completely solved in one generation.

We took it so we should be allowed to give it out. They are complaining and therefore not taking it so they have the opportunity to do something about it when they are in our place.

Are the reforms actually proving at least partially fruitful? From what I have heard and read the Russian AF is still very skilled and respected.

I suspect as soon as it was made public there would be changes made so that it was either harder to do, or no longer possible to get away with.

And like others have said with better simulators these days you could keep flight hours and use Sims to increase far beyond.

Flight simulators are good for remembering where displays and controls are, and remembering the orders of doing things and procedures for each thing they want to do, but it really is not the same as actually being in an aircraft and really flying.

Also someone mentioned the documentary from the mid 90s about the old busted flight simulator. I think it was actually the old kind with topological map of vast size and a camera which would run along the surface. Very cool stuff. Have only ever seen one video of them in action. Wish there were more.

Actually it sounds primitive and basic and even a bit desperate, but it actually worked rather well, and was actually quite realistic... Can't say they invented it for sure because I don't know when they started doing it... was it before Star wars and Blakes 7?

The only problem of course was that the terrain became repetitive unlike the infinitely variable software driven computer based models.

I remember the first flight simulator I played... it was called F-15 Eagle and was a two colour screen with a line depicting the horizon and a fixed display panel across the bottom of the screen showing speed etc. The landing strip was shown as a dot on a map and as you manouvered closer and closer it eventually appeared as an outline triangle that got bigger and bigger... the triangle wasn't filled in... it was just a vector line in low resolution that was really jaggy and you either hit it and landed or missed it and crashed.  Enemy aircraft were dots till they were very very close and were wireframe mesh shapes that looked like triangular darts representing the planes they were supposed to be.

The other ground features except the runways that I can remember were lines like roads. There might have been rivers and I think the sea was depicted as a dark blue as opposed to the light blue sky and pink ground.

So compared with publicly available computer flight simulators the Soviet system was actually rather amazing and much more realistic and useful.

Found a screen shot of the original game:



So the image is that small because that is how many pixels there are in an 8 bit computer game... everything was simple speed and altitude, mach speed, heading, and engine thrust as an rpm rating, and across the bottom the map so you can find ground targets and you airfield, centre is radar screen to see enemy air and ground targets and right is your loadout and bottom available fuel.
Note that triangular thing in crossing the centre of the HUD?

That is an enemy plane... as you can tell from the radar.

Technology has of course moved on since then but if you want to play this game:

https://www.myabandonware.com/game/f-15-strike-eagle-1so

Be prepared for a very long download time as it is a full 18K and it looks like you can play it inside your browser.

This was state of the art in 1985.

Was only a couple of years later... very early 1990s when they had much better games like Interceptor and Birds of Prey...