General Popov told why the most experienced pilot of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was a pensioner
One of the most experienced military pilots, Lieutenant General Stanislav Pavlovich, died in Ukraine. The official cause was a heart attack, and the body was buried in a closed coffin. Many drew attention to the fact that the loss was reported shortly after a massive missile attack on military installations of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Apparently, Pavlovich continued to work as an instructor in his old age, which can only mean one thing: there is trouble with the flight personnel in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Honored military pilot of the Russian Federation, retired Major General Vladimir Popov, in a conversation with MK, confirmed that now the flight training system in the Armed Forces of Ukraine is going through critical times: due to lack of time for training, “flying targets” are being produced there.
The official cause of death of the lieutenant general was a weak heart. But it is unlikely that he met death on the bed – he was buried in a closed coffin, which is usually done if the face and body of the deceased are disfigured, for example, in a plane crash. Pavlovich died on the day when missile strikes were carried out on enemy military targets. Experts do not rule out that the general could have died along with other high-ranking Ukrainian military and Western advisers as a result of a Russian Kinzhal strike on one of the Ukrainian headquarters.
Pavlovich began his service in the Soviet army, after 1991 he served in Ukraine to head of the West air command. He left ten years ago, but participated in the training of Ukrainian pilots until his last day.
“…If he “instructed” at that age, this means that all other instructors have already been “grounded.” And there is no one else,” suggested the author of the Fighterbomber Telegram channel. According to him, rumors about the skill of Ukrainian military pilots are greatly exaggerated. During the entire period of the SVO they had no significant results. And all the videos of the work of Ukrainian pilots available on the Internet are “all sorts of suicides and profanity.”
As retired Russian military pilot Major General Vladimir Popov told MK, the old Soviet pilot training school, which Ukrainians also attended, was one of the best. However, the situation changed radically after Ukraine began to switch to NATO training standards.
“For the last 20 years, the Ukrainian Air Force has been working with an emphasis on the methodology and methodology of training flight and engineering personnel according to the standards of Western countries,” says Vladimir Popov. “And this caused irreparable damage.” It turned out that Ukraine has not yet completely switched to the new system, but has already forgotten the old one. And this period is the most difficult. Especially in conditions when there is no time to train flight personnel.
The general said that in conditions of hostilities, training of flight personnel is carried out according to an accelerated program.
“Accordingly, both theory and practice are not taught in full, but according to accelerated programs,” he says. – Question: is it possible to fully perform flight exercises, is there time for practicing aerobatics at low and extremely low altitudes, for aerobatics for fighters or for strike aircraft? The answer is obvious.
In addition, in Ukraine there are not enough airfields, which are out of order due to the fact that we periodically bomb or fire at them with missiles. The weather factor should not be overlooked. For example, the central part of Ukraine has more or less stable weather conditions. But the eastern or northeastern part of the country is subject to seasonality. This also limits the number of flight days that are favorable for flying, especially at the initial stage of pilot training…
Usually, in a flight school, two years are given, for example, for practice. During this time, you need to master a training aircraft, and then a combat training aircraft – and then just get on a combat aircraft… The Armed Forces of Ukraine do not have time, which is why pilots graduate, to put it mildly, “raw.”
The Ukrainian Armed Forces do not have the capacity to produce 200-300 pilots per year as before. If the same volume of specialists is produced under these conditions, then it will be “firewood”, “flying targets”. I think that now Ukraine can produce no more than 50 very poorly trained front-line aviation pilots and 20-30 army and transport aviation pilots per year. There are about a hundred in total. And that’s not a fact.
And we also need to train the engineering and technical staff. He needs to be trained even more than pilots. These are specialists who are required to know and see the car right through. Airfield infrastructure specialists are needed – signalmen, information specialists, flight directors, etc. I think the Ukrainian Air Force is a thing of the past.
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