ARMENIA NEEDS SMALL AVIATION
Lragir.am
09 May 06
Dmitri Atbashyan, who formerly led the Civil Aviation of Armenia,
states that a political situation has occurred in Armenia when all the
rules of management are violated. `It is impossible to entitle the
same agent to three functions: planning, management, control.’
Atbashyan says it has been a long time that the aviation of Armenia
was not upgraded. `Whereas, formerly,600 new specialists used to enter
Armenia annually. Only 300 natives of Armenia used to study at the
aviation colleges of Kiev.’ Atbashyan says currently training a pilot
costs 300 thousand dollars in Russia, one million dollars in the
United States. `I would not think that the owner of Armavia would give
so much money to train specialists,’ announces Dmitri Atbashyan and
suggests ways out.
If the way out is to train amateur pilots, training an amateur pilot
costs 3000 dollars. `But an amateur pilot may become a professional
after 1500 hours of flight.’ And before becoming a professional pilot
an amateur pilot could fly on small helicopters inside Armenia. There
is demand for flights inside Armenia, especially among
businesspersons, assures Dmitri Atbashyan. The National Aviation
Society he heads has two small helicopters. `There have been cases
when a person needed to get to the north of Armenia, Tashir, then the
south of Armenia, Meghri, as soon as possible. He was ready to pay,’
Atbashyan gives another reason for developing small aviation in
Armenia, and announces without specifying names that a public official
once vowed that he would not allow Atbashyan’s plans to come into
being.