The paper is devoted to the problems of civil pilots upset recovery training. This is quite a new problem, which occurred due to the change in civil aviation pilots training programs that became possible due to the high level of modern civil aircraft automation. The upset recovery training removal negatively affected the level of flight safety both in our country and all over the world. The paper presents legal documents for flight simulations certification. Types of aircraft for civil pilots initial training used all over the world are described too. The analysis of the new types of light training aircraft that can be used as a change in the civil aviation academies was conducted. Modern upset recovery training program and its blind spots were studied in this paper in details. The problems of modern studies in upset recovery in civil aviation are the central part of this work. The paper contains information about legislative framework obsolescence, and creation of a new type of aviation simulator, that can simulate upset recovery situations concept. Current legislative framework of aviation simulators licensing is analyzed in this paper in comparison with the best international practices, regulations and recommendations. Conducted analysis showed that current certification legislative framework became obsolete and needs a revision for maintaining high standards in flight safety. Recommendations connected with the change of initial training types of aircraft in civil aviation academies are given.

The paper assumes a Bayesian estimate of the telecommunication systems availability ratio. Downtime and uptime are described by gamma distributions with positive integer parameters. Estimates of the distribution parameters are obtained using the maximum likelihood method. For the set samples, the values of the desired probability distribution densities are found and an expression for estimating the availability ratio is derived. Numerical estimates for the standard and assumed estimates are given. For a system with two states, a Bayesian estimate of the availability function with consideration of downtime and serviceable condition takes into account the features of backup equipment and the effect of its failure defined by performance reliability and features that ensure the reliability of information signals. The proposed Bayesian approach has the following advantages: it is possible to conduct quantitative estimates with lack of sufficient statistics on functional use indicators; it takes into account all destabilizing factors of various nature; the presence of a lower mean square error compared to traditional methods. To implement the proposed approach that estimates the availability ratio, confidence probabilities are introduced relative to the indicator of failure flows and equipment recovery. The parameters of the a priori information can be determined by different methods or on the basis of sufficient statistical data. To illustrate the discussed calculation algorithm, a digital data transmission system of a standard satellite navigation system consisting of terminal, radio equipment, and a transponder is considered. To estimate the required values, we used data on interruptions in the operation of equipment due to its malfunction during a conditional year. The frequency of downtime caused by signal propagation conditions and equipment failures was evaluated. It was shown that the gamma distribution is suitable for describing the frequency distribution of downtime. The frequency distribution of the cyclicity coefficient with the condition of the selected time interval was also taken into account. Sample mathematical expectations and mean square deviations of the downtime coefficient were found. As a result, the numerical example shows the correctness of using the Bayesian estimate of weighted equipment preparedness.

The paper is devoted to the problem of safe flight in vortex hazard conditions. A vortex wake is always produced behind flying aircraft. This vortex wake is invisible to other aircraft following it. Therefore, getting into a vortex wake from a preceding aircraft often becomes unexpected and quite often leads to flight incidents. This is confirmed by the statistics of flight accidents. With the introduction of aircraft weighing more than 500 tons, the problem of vortex safety has only sharpened. The fact is that the old standards that define safe intervals between flying aircraft are still active. These standards are given in this paper. It is also shown that even if these standards are observed, the flight of a medium-class aircraft at the same level as a heavy-class aircraft is unsafe. To study the effect of the vortex wake from the preceding aircraft, a special computational software complex based on the discrete vortex method was developed. This complex has passed the necessary testing and state registration. A number of measures were carried out to validate and verify the developed complex, confirming the operability of the programs included in it and the reliability of the results obtained. On the basis of this computational and software complex studies on the effect of the  A380 aircraft vortex wake on MS-21 class aircraft were performed. The studies were undertaken for various altitudes and speeds of the A380 aircraft and for its various flight configurations. As a criterion for the MS-21 aircraft safe flight, the roll moment that occurs due to falling into the vortex wave, in particular, its coefficient was chosen. If the coefficient of the MS-21 aircraft roll moment when it hits the vortex wake exceeds that from the ailerons, such a flight is considered dangerous. The distances behind the A380 that are unsafe for the MS-21 aircraft flight are given.

When an aircraft is struck by lightning damage of external structural elements is primarily caused by mechanical electrical impact of discharge on the aircraft, which results in the formation of dents on the skin, bends of panel elements (there have been cases of bending turbofan blades) and other deformations. Firstly, the mechanism of such lightning effect is caused by the action of ponderomotive forces generated by the interaction of the current in the lightning channel with currents flowing through the metal structures of the aircraft. Secondly, the shockwave of lightning has a physical impact on the elements of construction. The presence of condensation (moisture, ice) on the surface of the aircraft can significantly increase the damage of fuselage skin resulting from the electromechanical impact of lightning, which was confirmed by the results of the experimental research conducted at the Chair of Physics of the Moscow State Technical University of Civil Aviation. The water depth (as far as it is known, thunderstorm in most cases is accompanied by rain precipitation) can be large enough especially on the ground during parking and taxiing, as well as at takeoff operation and landing. Sheet samples of aluminum alloy skin D16AT with electrical discharge parameters (current amplitude 50–60 kA, duration of the first half-wave 30 microseconds) which were relatively equal to average parameters of natural lightning strike were tested. With water depth of not over 8 mm the indentations up to 2 mm deep and 30 mm in diameter were formed on samples up to 1,5 mm thick, with a sample thickness of 0,8 mm – over 10 mm in depth and up to 60–70 mm in diameter. Educated estimates indicated that presence of water increases the electrodynamic pressure on the skin several times. Firstly, having in consideration the elastic component such deformation can bring a danger to control mechanisms and surfaces located proximately under the skin when subjected to lightning strike. Secondly, electromechanical pressure amplification coupled with the striking acoustic wave generated by lightning can result in supercritical pressures in the mounting hardware of the skin. All of this should be taken into account both at the design stage of the aircraft and during aircraft operation including in particular post-flight inspection of the aircraft struck by lightning.

The modern tendencies in the Russian system of education, the emergence of competition and market relations in this sphere facilitated the reconsideration of the scientific grounds for the higher educational establishments activity. The suggested theoretical and methodological approaches to the domestic higher educational institutions’ management are subject to debate. The paper analyses the most essential terminology for the theoretical grounds of production management applicable for higher education processes. The terms "production", "activity", "production process" are clarified. The frequently used term "the education services production" is proved to be incorrect. The paper specifies the educational service in the context of the higher educational establishment activity, taking into consideration that the educational service should provide the student with the appropriate knowledge, training management, teaching support and student’s own educational activity control. The educational production process with which the student interfaces is divided into three subsequent stages: preparatory, main and final. The essence of each stage is defined. The students’ and teachers’ educational activity subject and result identification ways are suggested. These ways are aimed at making ultimate decisions for educational establishment production management optimization and other aspects improvement.

During the long-term aircraft operation, corrosion damage occurs on the aircraft structure. This leads to reducing of construction strength, rigidity and durability. Due to this corrosion damage removal and paintwork restoration are performed during the maintenance operation. During the corrosion damage removal not only corrosion products, but the material partially untouched by corrosion are removed as well. As a result, the cross-sectional area is reduced. This causes the increase of the stresses and decrease of the construction strength, rigidity and durability. However, it is impossible to refuse the removal of corrosion damage, but it is possible to optimize the stripping area parameters. The purpose of this paper is to solve the problem by applying mathematical modeling of the aircraft structures stress state by using open source software based on a finite element method (FEM). For preprocessing (creating geometry of the model, meshing) such software as FreeCAD, Gmsh, SALOME can be used, for processing (computation) – Code_Aster, which is included in SALOME-MECA software, for post processing (calculations visualization) can be used Post-Pro, which is also a part of SALOME-MECA software. Before the conducting computational experiments on the topic of this study the adequacy of the above mentioned software was checked. For this, the test problem of stress concentration in a plate with a circular hole – Kirsch task – was solved. At the same time, it was possible to achieve inaccuracy not exceeding 3%, due to this the adequacy of the selected software was considered as sufficient for conducting computational experiments in order to solve the problem. A technique of optimizing the removal of corrosion damage in aircraft structures was developed. It was demonstrated on a specific example of optimization of a plate corrosion damage stripping. After removal of the corrosion damage the minimum of the effective stresses was chosen as a criterion for optimality of the stripping area. In order to generalize the obtained results, the concept of the relative parameter of stripping was introduced which is the ratio of the  stripping diameter to the depth of the corrosion damage. A number of computational experiments  showed that there was an optimal value of the relative parameter of stripping, where a minimum of stresses acting in the plate after stripping was realized thus providing for the maximum possible durability of the structure after repair.

One of the frequent causes of aviation incidents and accidents is the failure of technical equipment and the destruction of aircraft (AC) constructions resulting from unacceptable deformations and structural destruction of the parts operating under high mechanical loads. Operation of parts, assemblies and units of aeronautical equipment in the most typical cases does not allow their plastic strain. Thus, in accordance with the airworthiness standards, aeronautical equipment should not be used under the conditions leading to the occurrence of dangerous permanent yielding and fatigue damage to the material in its structures. The probability of these negative factors is determined by the stress condition of the aircraft structural component material during operation. An important factor that determines the stress condition as well as the technical condition of an object of technology is residual stresses, most often available in the material of the part. In particular, the summation of the residual stresses with the stresses of the operating load can lead to the  exceedance of the critical values stress condition indicators, for example, the fatigue margin or the yield point of the material. In view of this, the development of new technologies that will provide information on the actual technical condition of the structure of each aircraft during its operation considering residual stresses is a critical task. The article describes a possible approach to evaluating and predicting the technical condition of the structural materials of assemblies and units operating under cyclic loading based on determining the change of residual stresses level on the surface of the parts during their operation. As a method for determining residual stresses, the X-ray diffractometric method was chosen, as it is characterized by high accuracy and reliability of the results obtained. The developed approach was tested on the components of the aircraft air conditioning system (turbo-refrigeration unit). The results of evaluating the technical condition of the parts conform to the facts of their operational damage. In these circumstances, although the proposed approach cannot currently be used directly on board an aircraft for continuous monitoring of the technical condition of aircraft structural materials, however, its development seems to the authors to be promising for these purposes.