Russian, Venezuelan pilots conduct training for joint flights

By  Trend

The crews of Russia’s Aerospace Forces and Venezuela’s Air Force conducted joint training to perform flights at Maiquetia Airport in the Bolivarian Republic, the Russian Defense Ministry’s information and mass communications department said on Wednesday, Trend reports referring to TASS.

"In order to exchange the experience of preparing the aircraft personnel, the crews of the two countries examined the area of carrying out flights near Maiquetia Airport, and studied the issues of cooperation with the flights’ commander and the terminology of radio communication," the statement said.

On December 10, two Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bombers, an Antonov An-124 military transport plane and an Ilyushin Il-62 long-range aircraft arrived in Venezuela. The aircraft covered a distance of 10,000 kilometers and flew over the Atlantic Ocean, the Barents, Norwegian and Caribbean Seas in strict compliance with international rules of the use of airspace, the Russain Defense Ministry said.

This is not the first such flight performed by Russia’s Tu-160 warplanes as they flew to Venezuela in September 2008 and in October-November 2013.