The amendments introduce legal definitions of concepts such as ‘light aircraft’, ‘super-light aircraft’, ‘helidrome’, ‘landing site’ and ‘commercial air carriage’. It also clarifies a number of other concepts and sets out the procedure for state registration of aircraft and procedures for authorising the operation of civil aircraft.
The new law also stipulates that only citizens of the Russian Federation can be members of the flight crew of Russian Federation aircraft that are part of commercial civil aviation. Foreign citizens can be included in the flight crew of such aircraft only during training in order to receive authorisation to carry out passenger, baggage, freight and postal flights on certain types of aircraft and only on condition that the foreign citizen does not act as commander of the Russian Federation aircraft.
This provision makes it possible to provide flight training for foreign specialists able to operate Russian aviation equipment and will enable Russian flight schools to provide professional training for foreign citizens and make Russian aviation equipment more competitive abroad.