Serbia Probes Flying School Fraud

Belgrade : Serbian authorities are probing the activities of a state-run flying school, following charges from the country’s civilian aviation authority, Balkan Insight has learnt.
A criminal complaint from aviation safety inspectors to Belgrade’s district prosecutor, made available to Balkan Insight this week, said that at least two pilots earned their instructor licenses without completing the compulsory instrument-flying course on a single-engine aircraft.
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Belgrade prosecutors handed over the case to the police department and local prosecutor in the northern town of Vrsac which has territorial jurisdiction over the JAT Airways’ flying school, an official of Serbia’s Directorate for Civilian Air Traffic said speaking on condition of anonymity.
Officials from the JAT Airways flying school in Vrsac refused to comment when reached by phone.
The probe follows recent accidents involving a crop-spraying helicopter which crashed in a lake in Serbia’s north and a single-engine aircraft towing a commercial banner which collided with masts of yachts moored in a Belgrade’s marina.
Investigators said that pilot errors and gross violations of safety procedures were to be blamed for both accidents which ended without fatalities.
29/07/08 BalkanInsight.com, Serbia