‘Only Fragments’ Remain of Soviet Network of Light Aviation which Linked Thousands of Russia’s Settlements Together, Officials Acknowledge

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 7 – In Soviet times, the government developed and maintained a system of light aviation including both planes and helicopters to link settlements and smaller cities with larger urban centers and each other. But privatization and sanctions have destroyed this system leaving “only fragments” in its place, officials say.

            The number of aircraft and pilots working in this segment of the transportation network has collapsed: there are now too few planes to service all these places and too few pilots to fly them even where the pilots exist, sometimes because of sanctions and sometimes because of lack of funding (nakanune.ru/articles/124819/).

            As a result of the loss of this integument, ever more villages and even smaller cities already have disappeared or are on the brink of doing so, something that is having the most deleterious consequences for Russia’s demography and even raising questions about national security because it is leaving so much of the country without any population.

            Moscow has announced programs to address this problem, but they have been underfunded or not carried out with any urgency. Planes don’t have motors, pilots aren’t being maintained, and runways are not being kept in shape for planes to land or take off. Reversing this will be difficult if not impossible at least in the short term.

            Some Russian officials believe that they may be able to end run these problems by using drone technology to pilot planes and then shifting resources away from training pilots for light planes into maintenance of airfields. But that will compromise general pilot training and may not be attractive to potential passengers who may not trust such technology.