fiasco

Illyria (Balkans) Forums > Cyprus / Kipar / Kypros > fiasco
	<< Prev Topic \| Next Topic >>

Author	Comment
turksoldier14 Membrum Posts: 144 (7/27/07 7:58 pm)	fiasco Assault chopper fiasco with 10 in 11 grounded By Elias Hazou TEN of the National Guard’s helicopter gunships are grounded because of problems with service and parts, with just one chopper barely airworthy. According to Politis, which reported the story yesterday, many of the pilots have flat-out refused to fly, and some have requested transfers to other departments in the military. Moreover, the choppers’ flight manuals are available only in Russian – not much use to the aviators, who often resort to multilingual dictionaries to figure out the instructions. Just one of the 11 Mi-35 choppers is used, and only when absolutely necessary. The other 10 gunships sit idly in hangars at the Andreas Papandreou airbase in Paphos, awaiting much-needed maintenance. Although some Ł11 million has been budgeted for servicing the helicopters, for the current year only Ł1 million will be made available – corresponding to just one of the choppers. According to the pilots, training is often done with a dictionary in hand, with the Russian flight instructor translating into English and the Cypriot aviators then re-translating with their own words into Greek. This is hardly an ideal situation, as many of the terms are highly specialised, meaning that a mistranslation could be fatal. The Russian manufacturer has reportedly promised to furnish English-language manuals – but until that happens, it is next to impossible to conduct a proper maintenance on the multi-million pound choppers. The Russian-made Mi-35 assault helicopters were first brought to Cyprus in 2001, in total secrecy. The purchase was unveiled a year later. Last July, one of the choppers plunged into a field near the Limassol-Paphos highway, killing the two pilots on board – 31-year-old Cypriot trainee pilot Flight Lieutenant Andreas Papasozomenos and 43-year-old Russian flight instructor Group Captain Yuri Oleynik. The Mi-35 gunship is a low-capacity troop transport operated from 1976 by the Soviet Air Force, its successors, and over thirty other nations. Soviet pilots called the aircraft ‘letayushiy tank’ or flying tank. Another common nickname is ‘Krokodil’ (Crocodile) – due to the helicopter’s camouflage and fuselage shape. Its arsenal includes an array of anti-tank rocket launchers, 30mm guns and a mounted Gatling gun, anti-tank bombs and mine dispensers. The gunship has seen action in a number of conflicts, including the Cambodian-Vietnamese War of 1978, the ten-year Soviet War in Afghanistan, the Iran-Iraq War and the Kosovo War. www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=32826&cat_id=1 tileho, Why dont you repair these????
TiLeiOhMaleas Moderator Posts: 2326 (7/29/07 5:59 am)	Re: fiasco Well i dont speak Russian. But im sure this story was out a couple months back. Surprised the Turks arent whining AGAIN about the Cyrpiot arsenal.

<< Prev Topic | Next Topic >>

Email This To a Friend

Email This To a Friend
Topic Control Image

Topic Control Image

Click to receive email notification of replies

Click to stop receiving email notification of replies

jump to:

- Illyria (Balkans) Forums - Cyprus / Kipar / Kypros - Balkan Links (1200+) -

Powered By ezboard® Ver. 7.32
Copyright ©1999-2007 ezboard, Inc.