Baku, Azerbaijan, March 29
By Ilkin Izzet - Trend:
The issues related to ensuring the civil aircraft safety and the pilots' health are always the focus of a particular attention in Azerbaijan, the head of the press service of Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL), Maharram Safarli told Trend March 29.
He said the overall control in this area is carried out by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
International standards and certain requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) are taken as a basis in the matters regarding the selection of pilots.
"In Azerbaijan, the selection of the future pilots is carried out taking into account the abilities, health status and other factors during the enrolment to the National Aviation Academy," he said.
"Therefore the recent accident that took place in Europe, the Alps can't be a criterion for us," he said, with regards to the recent Germanwings airliner crash in the Alps.
Safarli said that Azerbaijani citizens up to 23 years old, having passed a special medical examination in the medical-flight expert commission of the aviation clinics of the Heydar Aliyev International Airport, can be recruited for the positions of pilot-engineer and dispatcher at the Azerbaijan National Academy of Aviation.
"In the future, the psycho-physiological and physical condition of students is also under constant supervision," he said. "The new rules are worked out in this area in accordance with international standards. They will be used at the Academy from the next academic year."
He said that in order to control the changes that can take place in the psychological state and heath of pilots in general, they undergo regular medical check-up.
The medical-flight expert commission tightly controls these issues and pilots undergo a medical check-up on a mandatory basis before each flight, he added.
Moreover Safarli said there were cases when the commission prohibited experienced pilots from carrying out flights if even minor problems were revealed in their heath.
He added that all these issues are in the spotlight of AZAL president.
"Audit commissions of ICAO and European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) have always been very pleased and positively assessed our work related to pilots," Safarli said, adding that there haven't been negative assessments to date."