YEREVAN, MAY 8, NOYAN TAPAN. The pilots of the Armenian airline Armavia's A-320 plane that crashed near Sochi on May 3 - commander Grisha Grigorian and second pilot Arman Davtian were qualified specialists. According to the newspaper "Armenian Time", deputy commander of the squadron of Armavia's planes Aram Eghoyan stated this. The 40-year-old Grisha Grigorian had a nearly 20-year work experience. Prior to becoming the crew commander of the A-320 plane, he flew planes of various types. Before 2003, he worked in Iran, operated flights by a YAK-40 plane. Upon returning to Armenia, he as a qualified pilot was sent to Stockholm to undergo training and receive permission to operate flights by A-320 planes, after which, on April 2004 Grigorian started operating A-320 flights. He operated flights of a total of 5.5 thousand hours, 1,400 of which - on the A-320 plane (560 hours - as the aircraft commander). The newspaper indicated that these figures are quite impressive in terms of a pilot's experience. As regards the claims that Sochi Airport was a difficult one to land at, A. Eghoyan said: "That Sochi Airport is a difficult one is much spoken about. But Grisha learned all it, he knew Sochi Airport as well as Zvartnots." The second pilot, 29-year-old Arman Davtian operated flights on TU-154 before starting on A-320. During this time, he worked at one of the airlines of Sochi and operated flights from Adler in various destinations. In 2003, he returned to Armenia and after undergoing training in Toulouse he began operating flights by French ATR planes. Later these planes are given back to the French side, and Davtian went to Stockholm to receive permission for A-320 planes. His work experience was 2,200 hours, 1,020 hours of which - by A-320 plane. The newspaper reported that on December 27, 2005, commander Grisha Grigorian saved the lives of the passengers aboard the plane he flew, when there was an emergency during a Ekaterinburg-Yerevan flight: the air conditioning system stopped functioning, which caused lack of oxigen in the aircraft. This happened on the same A-320 plane that carshed near Sochi. At that time Grisha Grigorian managed to make an emergency landing at Ekaterinburg Airport.

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