MOSCOW – The pilots of the Falcon 10 plane that crashed in Afghanistan’s mountains had their pilot certificates revoked, as reported by Russia’s Izvestia newspaper citing sources.
The pilots, Dmitry Belyakov and Arkady Grachev, are accused of forging training documents for the Falcon 10 aircraft in the United States and providing false information.
Authorities raised concerns about the technical condition of the business jet, which had not undergone mandatory maintenance and received an airworthiness certificate illegally.
The revocation order for the pilots’ certificates was signed by Oleg Shirin, head of the North-Western Interregional Territorial Administration of Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency.
The incident also highlighted concerns about the jet’s maintenance and legality of its airworthiness certificate due to the pilots’ document forgery.
Reports on Jan. 27 revealed that the company owning the Falcon-10 lacked licenses for international flights and passenger air transportation.
The plane crashed in the Kof Aab district of northeastern Badakhshan province on Jan. 20. Survivors were transported to Kabul on Jan. 22.
