combat aircraft

Having shaken off decades of Soviet rule,

Azerbaijan is modernizing and upgrading its

small but potent fl eet of MiG-29 fi ghters and

attack helicopters.

REPORT Carlo Kuit and Paul Kievit/

Bronco Aviation

number of aircraft, three airframes are
undergoing their 3,000-hour check at the
Lviv repair plant in Ukraine.
According to Lt Col Ibrahim Haziyev,
the MiG-29 squadron commander, ‘We
 y approximately 60 hours [per pilot] a
year. Our way of counting  ight hours
is a bit di erent as we only note down
actual time in the air without mission
preparation, taxiing and landing.’
Student pilots in their third year at the
air force academy at Kala start with  ight
training, which involves approximately 10
to 20 hours in Mil Mi-17-1V helicopters.
After graduation, pilots selected for the
MiG-29 join the air force training school,
located at Kurdamir, for  xed-wing
instruction. The school shares facilities
with the small Azeri Sukhoi Su-25  eet.
Student pilots then  y around 150 hours
in the Aero Vodochody L-39 Albatros.
When training at Kurdamir is complete,
new pilots (who then hold the rank of
captain) will join either the Su-25 unit or
the MiG-29 out t at Tagiyev.
‘Newly graduated pilots complete
a 45-day academic course in
preparation for their  rst
‘Fulcrum’  ight,’ explained
Haziyev. ‘After that, there
is additional training and

http://www.combataircraft.net // October 2018 83