MINSK, 30 August (BelTA) – A group of specialists of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) was in Belarus to investigate the Ryanair FR4978 flight incident. Director of the Aviation Department of the Belarusian Transport and Communications Ministry Artyom Sikorsky talked about the group's work in Belarus in a recent broadcast hosted by the YouTube channel of Igor Tur, a political analyst of the Belarusian TV channel ONT, BelTA has learned.
Artyom Sikorsky said: “We didn't invite the ICAO group back on May 23 in order to offer excuses now. We were on the offensive. And we understand what we are fighting for. First, we fight for the professional honor of our air traffic controllers, aviation security and cybersecurity specialists, all the people who took part in realizing the emergency plan to ensure the safe landing of the Ryanair aircraft after the pilot-in-command decided to land in Minsk. Second, we have to counteract the ‘initiatives' launched by fugitive kitchen maids and degenerate alcoholics, who set out to inconvenience the life of our passengers. Now our passengers have to extend their flight routes, choose suboptimal flights, and reschedule their vacations. In the end they have to pay extra for having to fly around the countries that have introduced restrictions against us.”
Artyom Sikorsky went on saying that the investigation is less important for Belarus and more important for the future security of civil aviation. “We can survive these sanctions and we will. But an act of illegal interference, which may result in human casualties, will be difficult to handle. This is why in the course of the ICAO group's work we drew attention to a number of facts we've been unable to fully clarify,” the Aviation Department director noted.
For instance, the ICAO specialists were asked to share a record of conversations with the aircraft's pilot-in-command. “And we asked whether such records existed,” Artyom Sikorsky noted. “I wonder whether they will share the records or not. And whether they can guarantee these records are originals. Because there are certain procedures for collecting these data.”
Artyom Sikorsky said: “We also pointed out a post in ICAO's Twitter account on 23 May. Without any official report (I delivered the report at nine in the evening) before nine in the evening ICAO twitted that the aircraft had been forced to land. We suggested investigating this fact as well, investigating whether this twit had been authorized by ICAO's lawyers, aviation security specialists, and any kind of specialists at all. It is a Twitter account of an official organization, not of Baron Munchausen. Every word must be considered.”
Artyom Sikorsky added: “There are over 20 other facts like that that we've asked to investigate and reflect in the report. These 20 facts considerably distort the version compiled by mass media instead of aviation specialists. But unfortunately they succumbed to these mass media moments.”
The Aviation Department director stressed: “We work according to rules, procedures, and instructions. We were as open as possible and demonstrated [things] in the course of this investigation. No other country has submitted as much evidence.”
Artyom Sikorsky was also asked whether the ICAO group, which had no Russian-speaking people, received a large number of materials in Russian. “It is certainly true. Because instructions are written in the language people work with. For instance, if an aircraft maintenance manual is written in English, then all our pilots and maintenance technicians have to speak English. In order to understand proper aircraft maintenance. But we don't translate instructions in Russian into English,” he responded.
Apart from that, the national aviation safety program is written in Russian, too. “And Russian is an official language of the International Civil Aviation Organization,” Artyom Sikorsky pointed out.
Asked when the flight ban situation may be resolved, Artyom Sikorsky pointed out that ICAO had not enforced sanctions against Belarus. “The sanctions were enforced by the European Union with active participation of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, which understandably has its own goals, which are totally unrelated to safety. The situation will be resolved when the European Union lifts this blockade,” the official said.
In his words, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency's flight ban expires in autumn. Since previously introduced European Union sanctions affected the Belaeronavigatsia enterprise, too, Artyom Sikorsky wondered how foreign air carriers will pay aerial navigation fees for flights across Belarus even if the flight ban is lifted.
The official stressed that all the security foundations, all systems of checks and balances, and all the international rules and commitments, particularly in civil aviation, are falling apart now.
“We are ready to prove to the ICAO group and all the European colleagues that we've missed not a single letter or comma in our actions. But they will have to think about things now. It is truly a political, economic fiasco of those European officials, who made the decisions,” Artyom Sikorsky concluded.
BelTA reported earlier that a group representing the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) worked in Belarus to investigate the incident with Ryanair's FR4978 flight, which landed in the Minsk National Airport on 23 May. Among other things the ICAO group intended to visit aviation organizations and meet with the personnel. As a result of the visit a commission will amend the preliminary report, which is supposed to be prepared in September 2021. The final report will be presented by November 2021.
