The day that makes me so excited was Jun. 19, 1986 which Kampuchea airlines was opening
by the officials of the State of Cambodia. Not only me but also Cambodian people
were very excited and happy, because after the great victory of Jan. 7, 1979, our
country had no any aviation, the country was in bad and very complicated condition.
According to proposal of the government of Cambodia to Soviet government in order
to restoration of aviation in Cambodia Soviet government agreed to sign the contract
of helping to train and teach Cambodian specialists in order to have an airline in
Cambodia like other countries in the world. The government called on all intellectuals
who had intended to learn about the aviation. The information was announced through
out the country. The first session were chosen 51 persons, including me, who had
passed the medical health examination.
I was sent to USSR Oct. 10, 1980 to learned about aviation (nobody knows what will
he or they become). When we arrived in Kiev (is the capital of Ukrain-USSR) we had
sent to the medical health examination again, then we had known "what we will
become". The initial year 51 persons of us were studying together in Kiev Institute
of Engineering of civil aviation. At the end of the year some of us were sent to
learn to be mechanic of the plane AN-24 (Antonov.24), radio operator, navigator and
pilot.
I was sent to learn to be a pilot of the plane AN-24 including 5 of my friends, where
in a small country side of Sasovo civil aviation flight training school (about) 1500
km from Moscow to the west). I, although, lived in a small country but I was very
happy. Five years had passed quickly, finally at the end of the year 1985 I've got
the pilot license and returned to Cambodia on Feb. 3, 1986.
I've been working in the direction of civil aviation of Cambodia and I've been flying
in and out the country for seven years.
"Say the Pilots"
The first I would like to thank you for Soviet specialists especially my teachers
and trainers, who has helped me from the time that I still a simple person. Now I'm
a pilot I'm very happy of my job. This is my fancy when I was a child. Jan. 26, 1992
it was the greatest day in my life, that my crew allowed to fly without Soviet trainer.
This was the first crew of 4th Cambodian crews was allowed to fly without Soviet
trainer on the aircraft.
In my experiences of flying, I believed that Kampuchea airlines will be increasing
and spreading widely in the future. Conclusion of my story I'd like to stress AN-
24's extreme reliability. I used to fly the machine all around the USSR and Cambodia
landing on dirt airfields and in weed grown plains the machine had never given me
a cause to doubt its reliability. No wonder, since AN-24 was specifically designed
for these kinds of landings. I've been flying Soviet aircraft for 7 years. I flew
to Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and especially in our country. The machine looked fine
on every field. As a pilot I can say with all confidence the Soviet aircraft are
superb! I have never had a single serious trouble in the air. The best machine is
Soviet aircraft! I'd like to fly Soviet aircraft.
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