The Russian interstate aviation committee MAK has agreed to conduct additional safety checks on the Ilyushin Il-86 following the type's first fatal crash on 28 July 2002 with the loss of a Pulkovo Airlines aircraft near Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport. MAK met with the state civil aviation service GSGA, Ilyushin and operators of the remaining 41 aircraft in service last week before recommending further tests to the horizontal stabiliser actuators. The checks will be carried out in the next few weeks by MAK and Ilyushin before the committee draws up an airworthiness directive of mandatory modifications, expected to restore full certification "with minor operational changes".
Source: Flight International
