STAVROPOL. Feb 13 (Interfax-AVN) - Pilots of a helicopter regiment stationed in the town of Bydyonnovsk outside Chechnya said on Wednesday that the latest crashes of military helicopters in the North Caucasus could be explained by excessive wear of their components.
The pilots regularly flying combat sorties over Chechnya told Interfax-Military News Agency that the main problem was the lack of new blades. "The new blades cost dozens of thousands of U.S. dollars, and rebels shoot them through very often," the officers said. The same thing happens to other components. The regiment's supply with new components is reduced to the minimum.
An Interfax-AVN reporter saw a so-called helicopter cemetery in the regiment's stationing area where several dozens of helicopters without blades were staying.
Extensive wear of equipment becomes a reason for irregular operation of helicopters in the air. "One thing is to land on your own territory like it recently happened with Sergei Palagin and another is to fall down on Chechen mountains," the pilots said.
Palagin was the commander of a helicopter that crash-landed in the Stavropol territory last week.
A helicopter of a federal lieutenant colonel fell down on the mountains in 2001 because the pilot could not roll out of a left turn. The pilots mention that nothing like this happened to them in Afghan mountains for they were using new aircraft at that time.