MOSCOW. Feb 6 (Interfax-AVN) - The Air Force Signal Corps has toughened control over the procedure of airspace employment by civil aircraft in 2004, Lieutenant General Alexander Shramchenko, head of the Air Force Signal Corps, told Interfax- Military News Agency on Friday.
"The Signal Corps has been tasked with toughening control over the procedure of airspace employment within areas of responsibilities of Air Force and Air Defense Forces armies," Shramchenko said.
According to him, this step has been caused by the fact that civil aircraft have recently been violating the airspace employment procedure and rules more frequently. In addition to that the threat of terrorist attacks, including those involving aircraft, is still at large, he said.
"In 2003 the Signal Corps details detected over 300 violations of the airspace employment procedure," Shramchenko said.
According to him, the most frequent violations include using the airspace without prior requests and notification of Air Force authorities; landing an aircraft on a wrong airfield; and breaching the state border crossing procedure.
"We are especially concerned with unauthorized flights of air club aircraft, carried out due to the lack of discipline on the part of certain officials," Shramchenko said.
For instance, according to him, two aircraft, belonging to the Aviation Fan Federation, crashed on May 3 and June 16, 2003. The investigation found that the aircraft had carried out flights without prior request and permission of the joint airspace traffic authorities.
According to Shramchenko, in 2003 the Signal Corps fielded over 1,500 flight details, which is 1.2-fold greater y-o-y 2002. Signal Corps details in the North Caucasus alone fielded almost 700 flight details.