The flight verification aircraft B 350 FL-73, registered YR-CAA, reached 10,000 flight hours. Named the "Colorici" crew, the AACR calibration aircraft reached an impressive number of flight hours for an aircraft flying in special conditions for the verification of air navigation equipment.
The 11 members of the team that ensures the operation and maintenance of the calibration aircraft are proud of the aircraft's performance and talk about the special missions they perform every day.
“With the special equipment (AFIS) on board the aircraft, the radionavigation equipment installed on the ground is checked in flight. For example, for the verification and calibration of the means of navigation of approach (those devices that bring aircraft to landing) the landing procedure with failure is simulated, on average 20 times per mission. During this time, the crew is in direct contact with the ground team of ROMATSA which, depending on the findings made from the air, makes the adjustments for the radionavigation equipment, so that the air traffic operations are executed safely ", says the engineer Iulian Dumitrescu, the oldest member of the calibration aircraft crew.
In aviation, the missed approach procedure is considered risky because aircraft are designed to land and take off at longer intervals than a calibration aircraft does, with a minimum of 12 missed approaches for ILS verification (sometimes for parameter adjustment reaching -it is also at 18 - 20 failed approach procedures).
AACR is currently preparing documentation for the “retirement” of the B 350 FL-73 and its replacement with a new aircraft, through a procurement procedure. The AACR calibration aircraft ensures and maintains the safety of air traffic on the territory of Romania and the Republic of Moldova.
In 1996, AACR lost the calibration aircraft AN 24 YR BMK and the 8 crew members, during the calibration mission of the navigation equipment of Baia Mare airport.