DUSAHNBE, June 16, Asia-Plus — Aircraft operated by Tajik State Air Company “Tojikiston” will be equipment with ground proximity warning system (GPWS), according to information from Tajikistan’s national airlines.
The Tajik national air carrier source says it is a demand of EUROCONTROL (European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation). “If “Tojikiston” does not fulfill this demand its aircraft will be banned from flying to the European zone or a large fine will be imposed on it,” the source said.
EUROCONTROL currently numbers 36 member nations and has as its primary objective the development of a seamless, pan-European Air Traffic Management (ATM) system. The achievement of this objective is a key element to the present and future challenges facing the aviation community, which are to cope with the forecast growth in air traffic, while maintaining a high level of safety, reducing costs, and respecting the environment. EUROCONTROL develops, coordinates and plans for implementation of short-, medium- and long-term pan-European air traffic management strategies and their associated action plans in a collective effort involving national authorities, air navigation service providers, civil and military airspace users, airports, industry, professional organizations and relevant European institutions.
Installation of the GPWS on a plane of the TU-154M type comes to US$30,000, according to the source. The source has told Asia-Plus that that the ground proximity warning system has to so far been installed on one plane of the company and it is planned to install the GPWS on another one in near future.
The GPWS uses aircraft inputs such as position, attitude, air speed and glideslope, which along with internal terrain, obstacles, and airport databases predict a potential conflict between the aircraft”s flight path and terrain or an obstacle.
To keep service life of one TU-154M the “Tojikiston” company monthly spends nearly 500,000 US. dollars, according to the source. Some 90 percent of the overall amount of conveyance of passengers and shipment of cargoes in the Tajik national air carrier is conducted by this type of aircraft.
At present the Tajik national air carrier has four Soviet-era TU-154M and one TU-154B. TU-154B is supposed to have outlived its service life by the beginning of the next year. Besides, “Tojikiston” has three TU-134s, three AN-24s, three AN-28s, two AN-26s, seven Yakovlev-40s, and four helicopters.
