Ultralight biplane carries Chechen leaders to safety from Grozny

Published: 3/28/2000

An Aviatika-890 aircraft discovered in a suburb of Grozny on March 20th may have been used by Chechen rebels to evacuate their leaders from Russia, according to Mr Igor Pyankov, Head of Aviatika. Mr Pyankov said that there were two possible ways the Chechnians could have obtained the Aviatika-890; it could have been supplied from Togliatti, where 10 of the aircraft had been assembled, or from the Kizlyar plant in adjacent Daghestan, which had manufactured about 12 of the aircraft under licence from Aviatika. A version of the aircraft had also been constructed by MiG in Russia, but these had been mostly supplied to private clients and exported because, according to Mr Pyankov 'Russia did not have a sufficient market for them.' The news that an aircraft left the city given the conditions of siege suggest that the ultralight biplane exhibits considerable ruggedness in what could only be described as very extreme conditions. The fact that Mr Pyankov has made the information public, perhaps suggest that he may see this as an endorsement of the aircraft's potential.

Article ID: 1740