Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was the first of the country's leaders to fly the Italian Agusta AW139 helicopter. Last week, the prime minister flew from Vnukovo airport to his residence in Gorki in a new car of the Rossiya Special Flight Detachment. President Vladimir Putin remains loyal to the Russian Mi-8 for the time being.

In total, two Italian helicopters were bought for the government squadron. In the basic configuration, the machine can cost from $6 million to $9 million. The AW139 model will be produced in Russia, but the helicopter that Dmitry Medvedev flew is of Italian assembly.

It is not yet clear how often top officials will use the new helicopters for flights.

On which helicopter and plane the prime minister will fly - determines federal Service protection, - explained the press secretary of the Prime Minister Natalya Timakova.

The Presidential Administration noted that the Italian helicopters will not replace the Russian Mi-8MTV, which the president and the head of government usually fly, but will complement them.

We are focusing on the purchase of Russian equipment, and we purchased Agusta, because we do not yet produce vehicles of this class, so we only buy in addition, - said Viktor Khrekov, press secretary of the Presidential Administration.

Test pilot Vadim Bazykin also believes that Agusta AW139 will not become the main helicopter of the first persons.

Agusta is a flying Mercedes, a beautiful, modern and comfortable car. But you can fly it for short distances. After two hours of flight, the passenger is already tired. Mi-8 is larger, there is even a toilet. In addition, the Italian helicopter is designed to land on asphalt, while our Mi-8 can land on rocks and on the ground, - Vadim Bazykin, Honored Pilot of Russia, assessed the Prime Minister's choice.

AgustaWestland has been producing models for top government officials for many years. It is this company that creates new cars for the President of the United States. Agusta AW139 was also leased for flights by Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovych.

On the same day that Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was flying to Gorki in an Agusta AW139, President Vladimir Putin was flying from Vnukovo to his residence in Zavidovo in an Mi-8.

The president prefers to use Russian-made equipment, this is due, among other things, to the fact that the helicopter of the head of state is equipped with the necessary means of communication, ”Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov told Izvestia.

Dmitry Medvedev willingly uses foreign aircraft for movement. During the years of his presidency in the Arctic Ocean, Rossiya bought two French Dassault Falcon 7X aircraft, on which Dmitry Medvedev continues to fly in his current post. In the fall of 2012, the Airbus Corporate Jet ACJ319 aircraft entered the squadron, and the prime minister has already flown a couple of times on business trips on it.

On the last week Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Vladimir Putin has a hyper-congested schedule, but the president's movements around the capital will not create problems for drivers on the roads - Putin will fly by helicopter. He has been actively using this type of transport for several years now, leaving armored limousines at times in the Special Purpose Garage. Lenta.ru decided to take a look at what the head of the Russian state flies and drives.

flying around traffic jams

In October 2012, on his birthday, Vladimir Putin announced his decision to get as far away from the Kremlin as possible so as not to create traffic jams on Moscow roads in motorcades. And he retired to the Novo-Ogaryovo residence near Moscow. And Dmitry Medvedev boarded a helicopter. To do this, a helipad was built in front of the White House from the Krasnopresnenskaya embankment. However, this tactic was not successful. Six months later, the press secretary of the President of Russia actually admitted the senselessness of this undertaking. Traffic jams, which Putin and Medvedev tried to avoid, did not decrease.

However, the helipad in the Kremlin's Tainitsky Garden was nevertheless equipped. "Turntables" landed on the territory of the Kremlin before, including with the first president of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, on board. But the site was located on Ivanovskaya Square, and the vibration from the helicopter could damage the historic buildings. Here it is moved away.

It's time to leave work, and the Moscow road map is colored blood color traffic jams. Instead of a trip to a country residence, one has to look for business in the capital. And then they blocked traffic: a helicopter rises from the White House and heads west. Thoughts following the propeller begin to spin around the flying machine. Neighboring villages with helipads and air taxi service come to mind. You involuntarily think about how your own helicopter could make life easier.

The commercial director of the Aerosoyuz helicopter company, Maxim Blagodatsky, explained to the correspondent of the Internet magazine Elitnoe.RU how much it costs to buy a helicopter in Russia, and what additional costs threaten its owner.

Where can you fly a helicopter.

The airspace of the country is divided into three zones. "A" is where large aircraft fly. "C" is the area of ​​responsibility of airports, it is suitable for small aircraft, but with the notification of dispatchers. And "G", where no agreement is required. If you need to fly from one residence near Moscow to another, and at the same time both are in zone G, then you don’t need to tell anyone, you sit down and fly. If in the nearest suburbs you can fly directly between the sites (there are already about 200 of them), then in the rest of Russia - only on special air routes.

Over Moscow, movement is allowed only for the first persons of the state. The rest can still fly to the Moscow Ring Road in any direction, but soon they will be allowed to move to the Third Ring Road, as well as over riverbeds and forest park areas.

How much does a helicopter cost.

Let's turn to the understandable language of cars. Both air and ground vehicles can be divided into "economy", "business" and "premium" classes.

Economy class. The most popular representative of the "economy" is the four-seater Robinson 44. This is an airy Toyota Corolla - a simple and reliable car to maintain. Prices for this device start at $616,000. A five-seat Robinson 66 helicopter powered by a Rolls-Royce engine is a more powerful, faster and more comfortable helicopter, similar to the Avensis, and costs from $1.3 million.

Business Class. The French Eurocopter 350 (the only helicopter that landed on Everest), the American Bell 407 and the Italian Agusta 119 are Mercedes E-class. Six seats, and prices for these helicopters range from $1.6 million to $2.9 million.

Premium class. The next line is twin-engine eight-seat helicopters. It is documented that twin-engine helicopters will be allowed to fly over Moscow. Agusta 109, Eurocopter 135, Bell 429. Prices start at $6 million. By the way, this is far from the limit. For example, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev flies an Augusta 139 for $14 million.

However, expensive helicopters have their downsides. The main one is that the weight grows faster than the power, and at the same time the carrying capacity drops. In addition, it is believed that two engines are more reliable, but there is not a single fact confirming that if one engine breaks down, then the helicopter will land on the other: they have one fuel system and a gearbox too.

Helicopter maintenance costs.

Registration. Consider the costs on the example of Robinson 44, reliable as a ZIL refrigerator. He even landing with the engine off is considered a regular procedure, which is taught in the courses. Here sailed from the ocean after ten long weeks, three boxes with a helicopter, what's next? It must be assembled, flown around, handed over to the Federal Air Transport Agency for verification, get numbers and documents. It costs about 300 thousand rubles to register a helicopter, CASCO - 1.8% per year of the cost, property and horsepower taxes are also levied. The Robinson 44 vehicle has only 260 horsepower, which is about 50 thousand rubles a year.

Repair. A visual inspection of the helicopter must be carried out after 50 flight hours; technical inspection, the cost of which is 4.5 thousand dollars, is carried out every hundred hours. And, finally, every 2.2 thousand hours in the Robinson 44 almost all the filling changes and a new helicopter is obtained. The price of overhaul (overholed) is 300 thousand dollars. Thus, if the first thousand hours of "run" reduces the cost of the car to about 500 thousand dollars, then a helicopter with a flight time of 2 thousand hours costs no more than 100 thousand dollars.

Fuel consumption. The cost of aviation gasoline in Moscow is about 109 rubles per liter. But even the modest Robinson 44 "eats" a liter per minute. That is, the cost per flight hour will be about 6 thousand rubles. It is worth noting that the fuel tanks of helicopters are quite capacious and at one gas station from Moscow you can fly, for example, to St. Petersburg (about 3-3.5 hours of flight).

Helicopter parking area.

Robinson 44 can be kept on the territory of a country house, it takes up only 2 parking spaces. Registration is required if the helicopter lands more than ten times a year. To obtain official permission, the site must meet only two requirements: the size is 35 by 35 meters, and in addition, there should be no obstacles along the take-off course at an angle of 45 degrees.

Helicopter control courses.

A full piloting course lasts from three to six months. During this time, the student will receive 42 hours of practice and 179 hours of theory. The cost of the course is about a million rubles. After completing the training, you need to pass exams at Rosaviatsiya, after which the student receives an amateur pilot certificate with the right to pilot a Robinson 44 helicopter. To fly on other models, you need to retrain and open new categories.

In general, buying a helicopter is not a cheap pleasure, to put it mildly. But, no doubt, it saves time, and time is money. And today there are more and more people for whom these words are not just a beautiful phrase.

About the investigation of the "cocaine case" in Argentina. V warehouses buildings of the Russian diplomatic mission in the republic, 12 suitcases with cocaine were found, belonging, according to the investigation, to an employee of the technical staff of the embassy who had completed a business trip under a fixed-term employment contract by that time. In December 2017, the flour-replaced cargo was sent “like diplomatic luggage on a Russian government plane,” republic officials said. The tail number that appeared on the video of the Argentine gendarmerie coincides with the tail number of the aircraft of the Rossiya special flight squad.

The special squad, although it has an extensive fleet, is not an airline in the usual sense of the word. Only high-ranking officials, parliamentarians, security officials and judges are entitled to use its services.

Il-96-300 aircraft

"Air number one" IL-96-300 was appointed under President Boris Yeltsin. The former presidential board - Il-62, left over from Mikhail Gorbachev, did not suit the new head of state due to insufficient comfort. There are several "Ilov" at the disposal of the manager: those on which the first person flies are marked with the abbreviation PU, which means "control point" (armed and nuclear forces).

Former President and current Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in the Il-96-300 aircraft

“According to the sketches of the son of the Russian artist Ilya Glazunov, Ivan, the Swiss made an amazing interior,” Alexander Korzhakov, a presidential bodyguard, wrote in his book. “It was possible to work and live in the new plane no less comfortably than in the Kremlin.” IL-96 to this day retains the status of the main presidential board. In 2013, the manager ordered two such aircraft - one for 3.8 billion rubles. , another for 5.2 billion rubles.

Aircraft TU-214

Another model with an equipped control center. The Tu-214 repeater aircraft are manufactured at the Kazan KAPO named after. Gorbunov, the cost of one is 3 billion rubles. The contract for the supply of liners with PJSC "UAC" specifically stipulated "VIP-interior".

Tu-214 aircraft

The manager does not show the interiors of presidential liners, preferring to verbally deny rumors of luxury reigning inside when buying another ship. "No precious stones, heaped means of hygiene in sight are not present. There is work zone with an office where meetings can be held. And there is a small recreation area: after all, sometimes the president has to fly half the world at a time, ”said Vladimir Kozhin about the “innards” of the Tu-214.

Aircraft Tu-204-300

Serial production of the Tu-204 began in the USSR in the late 80s, but the manager continues to order this model. The last order, for two liners, was placed at the end of 2014.

Aircraft FALCON 7X

There are two Falcon business jets of the French Dassault Aviation in the fleet of the Rossiya Arctic Ocean. The cost of one liner for the managerial departments amounted to 1 billion rubles. The purchase of foreign aircraft was justified by the fact that Russia does not produce low-class aircraft for flights over short distances.

Airbus A319 aircraft

Two more foreign aircraft as part of the presidential fleet - Airbus A319, purchased, according to Kozhin, due to the fact that the domestic aviation industry did not have time to cope with orders from the manager, and the Rossiya fleet had to be urgently expanded. Price - 2.4 billion rubles.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in the cockpit of a Sukhoi SuperJet 100

The default corporate jet configuration is capable of accommodating 18 passengers. The salon has a VIP compartment, an office area, a living room, a bedroom, a shower and a bathroom.

Mi-8 helicopter

In order for the President of Russia to be able to move around Moscow by air, a helipad was equipped on the territory of the Kremlin. By helicopter from the government airport Vnukovo to the Kremlin, the head of state gets in five to seven minutes.

Helicopter AGUSTA AW-139

Photo: Dmitry Astakhov / press service of the government of the Russian Federation / TASS

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has been flying to the White House in an Agusta helicopter since 2013. According to the database of the Federal Property Management Agency, the prime minister's helicopter is about twice as expensive as the presidential Mi-8. Now the joint plant of Russian Helicopters and Agusta Westland operates in Tomilino, Moscow Region.

Yacht "Seagull"

The presidential yacht, before being transferred to the balance of the Chaika manager, was operated for two years and cost the budget RUB 1.5 billion It includes six spacious cabins with private bathroom and satellite TV, spa pool, sunbathing area, gym, barbecue area, bar.

Motor yacht Azimut 38

The sanatorium "Rus" has an Italian-made motor yacht Azimut 38 purchased according to the register for 20 million rubles.

The floors on Azimut 38 are teak. The interior used leather and bog oak.

Yacht "Kavkaz"

Diesel yacht "Caucasus" was built in the early 80s. In 2011, the manager gladly replaced her with Chaika. “As soon as the diesels were started, the deck was enveloped in clouds of poisonous nasty smoke. Vile! Exhausts from diesel engines, I don’t talk about noise and everything else. In the end, we received an order: the ship is worn out and must be written off. The resource cannot be extended,” Vladimir Kozhin recalled.

Yacht "Olympia"

As some media wrote, Vladimir Putin also has at his disposal a luxurious 57-meter yacht "Olympia" worth up to $50 million. New Newspaper". "Olympia" was seen in the port of Sochi. In the register of federal property this yacht is not listed. RBC did not answer the question of her belonging to the manager.

Yacht "Pallada"

The former manager's yacht is now owned by Russian Orthodox Church. “This is a snow-white two-deck vessel 31 meters long, equipped with the latest equipment and special mechanisms, which, in particular, allow it to pass unhindered under the Neva bridges. There is a spacious hall for receiving guests, a kitchen, comfortable cabins for passengers, which are furnished with luxury wood furniture, and sofas and armchairs are made of white leather. It seems that the development of the design of the yacht was entrusted to one Dutch company, ”the former head of the Kremlin’s protocol service, Vladimir Shevchenko, described the vessel.