The first flights on Yak-130 operational trainers were performed by Belarusian pilots at the airfield of 116th Guards Assault Air Base. Instructors of the Irkutsk Aviation Plant accompanied the pilots during flights, BELTA reports with reference to press-service of the national Ministry of Defense.
So the practical part of retraining of the air base’s pilots kicked off. Earlier only Russian pilots (representatives of Irkutsk Aviation Plant) performed flights on Yak-130 jets in Belarus (at Lida airfield).
The most experienced Class 1 military pilots have started performing flights on the new aircraft. They will have to log about 30 hours of flying time in 1 or 2 months in accordance with the exercise program. After that they will become pilot-instructors of the base and will be able to train selected pilots to operate Yak-130 jets.