PILOTS OF CRASHED PLANE WERE QUALIFIED SPECILALISTS
YEREVAN, MAY 8, NOYAN TAPAN. The pilots of the Armenian airline
Armavia’s A-320 plane that crashed near Sochi on May 3 – commander
Grisha Grigorian and second pilot Arman Davtian were qualified
specialists. According to the newspaper “Armenian Time”, deputy
commander of the squadron of Armavia’s planes Aram Eghoyan stated
this. The 40-year-old Grisha Grigorian had a nearly 20-year work
experience. Prior to becoming the crew commander of the A-320 plane,
he flew planes of various types. Before 2003, he worked in Iran,
operated flights by a YAK-40 plane. Upon returning to Armenia, he as a
qualified pilot was sent to Stockholm to undergo training and receive
permission to operate flights by A-320 planes, after which, on April
2004 Grigorian started operating A-320 flights. He operated flights of
a total of 5.5 thousand hours, 1,400 of which – on the A-320 plane
(560 hours – as the aircraft commander). The newspaper indicated that
these figures are quite impressive in terms of a pilot’s
experience. As regards the claims that Sochi Airport was a difficult
one to land at, A. Eghoyan said: “That Sochi Airport is a difficult
one is much spoken about. But Grisha learned all it, he knew Sochi
Airport as well as Zvartnots.” The second pilot, 29-year-old Arman
Davtian operated flights on TU-154 before starting on A-320. During
this time, he worked at one of the airlines of Sochi and operated
flights from Adler in various destinations. In 2003, he returned to
Armenia and after undergoing training in Toulouse he began operating
flights by French ATR planes. Later these planes are given back to the
French side, and Davtian went to Stockholm to receive permission for
A-320 planes. His work experience was 2,200 hours, 1,020 hours of
which – by A-320 plane. The newspaper reported that on December 27,
2005, commander Grisha Grigorian saved the lives of the passengers
aboard the plane he flew, when there was an emergency during a
Ekaterinburg-Yerevan flight: the air conditioning system stopped
functioning, which caused lack of oxigen in the aircraft. This
happened on the same A-320 plane that carshed near Sochi. At that time
Grisha Grigorian managed to make an emergency landing at Ekaterinburg
Airport.