OREANDA-NEWS. On 01 April 2008 was announced, that a conference organised by the RF Federal Transportation Control Service, "Experiences and problems in technical operation of TU-154M aircraft and their flying fitness maintenance objectives", was held on the basis of Domodedovo Aviation Technical Base CJSC.

The conference presidium included: the Chief Designer of Tupolev OJSC, A. S. Shengardt, the Director General of the State Civil Aviation Research Institute, V. S. Shapkin, the Deputy Head of the Department for Control over Maintenance of the Civil Aircraft Flying Fitness of the RF Federal Transportation Control Service, A. V. Devochkin, the Managing Director of Domodedovo ATB CJSC, V. E. Prokopchuk, the Chief Engineer of Aeroflot Russian Airlines OJSC, A. V. Khakhalin, the Deputy Director General of Aviakor - Samara Plant CJSC, A. V. Gusev, and the Deputy Director of the Domodedovo airport complex, N. V. Voloshin.

The event participants also included representatives of VARZ-400 OJSC, Aeroflot - Russian Airlines OJSC, UTAir, Siberian Airlines OJSC, Rossiya State Transportation Company FSUE, and others, many of whom made presentations on the conference theme.

A. V. Devochkin, Deputy Head of the Department for Control over Maintenance of the Civil Aircraft Flying Fitness of the RF Federal Transportation Control Service, emphasised, as he opened the conference, that its primary goal was to discuss the objectives accounted for by the maintenance of the flying fitness of TU-154B and TU-154М aircraft, the problems that exist in this area, as well as to come up with solutions required for their elimination. The Deputy Head of the Flying Fitness Maintenance Department of the State Civil Aviation Research Institute, S. V. Deogenov, noted in his presentation that the "repair-free" method of maintenance of the flying fitness of TU-154 aircraft had proven to be effective and promising.

The report of the Domodedovo ATB CJSC representative primarily focused on the TU-154M technical maintenance and repair problems in light of the experiences accumulated in identification and elimination of defects on this type of aircraft. Over the past three work phases completed in compliance with Decision No.5.9-19GA, Domodedovo ATB CJSC serviced 45 TU-154М-type aircraft from the Aeroflot OJSC fleet, of which 17 were serviced in 2005, 18 - in 2006, and 10 - in 2007. Since 2005, the enterprise has been testing new certificates, methods, and technologies designed by Tupolev OJSC and the State Civil Aviation Research Institute with the view to improve the process of maintenance of the TU-154M flying fitness. Based on the accumulated experiences and positive results obtained on the basis of the Aeroflot OJSC fleet, analogous programmes of maintenance of the TU-154M flying fitness have been designed and approved for other aircraft operators.

This conference is of great practical importance for the federal aviation bodies, airlines, servicing enterprises, and other stakeholders as it enables industry specialists to exchange their experiences, discuss relevant issues, and come up with collective solutions for the existing problems.