A JAK-40 aircraft belonging to the Slovak Interior Ministry’s fleet with Defence Minister Martin Glváč on board had to make an emergency landing just 20 minutes after taking off from Bratislava Airport on Monday. The pilot at an altitude of 1,200 metres noted that one of the engines wasn’t functioning properly.
“This concerned a higher temperature of output gases, a lower rotation speed of the high-pressure compressor and a lower pressure in fuel injection,” said the Interior Ministry spokesperson Lucia Kirinovičová, adding that the crew then decided to return to Bratislava Airport to make sure that no foreign body had been sucked into the jet engine. Minister Glváč was on his way to Paris, where he was due to attend a military parade marking Bastille Day and the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War. The minister would normally have used a substitute JAK-40 aircraft, but “as the programme of the minister had already been disrupted, a decision was made not to continue with the flight,” said Kirinovičová. Specialists are currently carrying out an examination of the original aircraft.
According to an aviation expert Peter Švec, the Interior Ministry’s fleet consisting of Tu-154 and JAK-40 aircraft that is used to transport the highest constitutional officials of the country is economically inefficient. Moreover, he resolutely opposes buying new aircraft for the government fleet. “The government cannot afford it, moreover, similar purchases create room for corruption,” he said. According to Švec, the age of aircraft in the government fleet is not a deciding factor for security. “Even new aircraft may malfunction,” he said, adding that the crew handled well the situation with the defence ministry’s trip to Paris on Monday. He says the Interior Ministry’s fleet should be dissolved immediately and he advises the government to look for other ways to transport politicians.
