SHARJAH // The rugged Antonov An-12 cargo plane has traditionally gone where other planes fear to land. Dirt roads, deserts, snow and unfriendly fire hold little terror for it. But the legendary Soviet-era plane has proved no match for UAE rules and regulations.
And that makes the pilots who work for Natalia Fridinskaya and other cargo operators from the former Soviet Union very unhappy.
In the Ukrainian-made Antonov An-12, a four-engine turboprop relic of the Cold War, Russian and Georgian crews have braved surface-to-air missiles to fly supplies to Iraq and Afghanistan, dropped onto runways in Somalia that were little more than country roads, or narrowly cleared strips of jungle to deliver medicine and food to UN missions on several continents.
Along the way, the An-12 - Nato code name "Cub" - has delivered its fair share of aid to refugees. But now, due to a "temporary" ban that is beginning to assume an air of permanence, the aircraft operated out of the UAE by Mrs Fridinskaya and more than a dozen other operators have themselves become refugees.
All An-12s were ordered out of the country by the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) on January 8, following four incidents in as many months involving local operators in the Emirates and Iraq. The worst was in Iraq on November 13, when an aircraft operating out of Sharjah, with a cargo thought to include FedEx packages, crashed near Fallujah, killing all seven people on board. Three other incidents were reported at Sharjah in October and January.
Although the suspension was lifted on April 6, the Antonov operators say a de facto ban remains in place, imposed by a series of bureaucratic hurdles that they describe as unjustified and which they say is damaging the UAE's burgeoning status as a regional transport centre.
As a result an estimated seven companies have either moved their operations to other countries or have simply gone bust.
"With proper maintenance, with the proper care, this aircraft is practically indestructible," says Mrs Fridinskaya, general director of TransAviaService, a Georgian airline with offices in the Sharjah International Airport Free Zone.
"It can fly for another 20 years if it's kept well. If one or two airlines are having problems, why is it that all of us are made to suffer?"
The Cub entered service with the Soviet air force in 1959, which makes this year the aircraft's 50th birthday. Production ceased in 1973, with more than 1,200 aircraft built. According to an article in Flight International magazine in 2006, at that time more than 170 remained in service with more than 70 small commercial airlines, operating between one and seven aircraft each.
The reinvention of the An-12 over its 50-year career is a testament to the history that has passed under its wings; it has gone from transporting Soviet weaponry and troops to servicing American soldiers in the Hindu Kush, the Afghan mountain range once considered the USSR's backyard.
More than two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the An-12 maintains its reputation in aviation circles as a transport Goliath, capable of lifting more than 20 tonnes with a range of more than 3,000km - roughly a return flight from Sharjah to Baghdad.
In 2005, the aircraft even received a nod from Hollywood with an appearance in Lord of War, a film starring Nicolas Cage about the exploits of a Ukrainian-born arms dealer, in which it is seen performing a typically challenging landing on an African dirt road while being harried by hostile planes.
"It was produced for military purposes, so you know it's designed to land in any environment," says Alexander Kolganov, commercial director at Transliz Aviation, which had operated five An-12s out of Sharjah before the ban.
"It can land on dirt paths, on ice, snow, grass. This aircraft is supremely versatile, and if maintained well, it will last a very, very, very long time."
He and his colleagues say the An-12's simple design and durability give it advantages over its American equivalent, Lockheed's C-130 Hercules, another four-engine turboprop plane that is three years its operational senior but still in production.
The An-12 can withstand much more wear and tear, says Mr Kolganov, but it is in the profit margin that the former Soviet workhorse clinches the deal. For one thing, it can carry about five tonnes more than the Hercules, but it is also much cheaper to operate. An hour of flight time is priced by operators at roughly $3,000 (Dh11,000), a sum that includes everything from fuel to crew - and which is about $4,000 less than the Hercules.
The proof, says Mr Kolganov, is in the world's hotspots.
"Why are Antonovs taking all the American supplies to their own battle zones? Why don't they use their own aircraft? Because the Antonov is considerably cheaper."
Cheaper or not, the Antonov appears to remain unwelcome in UAE airspace. Mrs Fridinskaya's lone An-12 has been based in Sulaimaniya, a city in Kurdish Iraq, since mid-February.
"My crew was performing maintenance to the plane when the authorities came over and told us to leave - immediately," says Mrs Fridinskaya, who is spending her days in Sharjah hoping to be reunited again with her "Anton".
"They say the ban was made in the interest of safety, but literally my crew was forced to leave on the spot to Iraq - they didn't get to finish their inspection. What kind of safety measure is that, if I had to fly a plane [that] should not have been flown?"
Other aircraft have returned to their native Ukraine, or are being kept along with skeleton maintenance crews in far-flung locations, such as Uganda or the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Among them are four of Mr Kolganov's five An-12s, transferred to Uganda along with spare engines, propellers and fuel, at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dirhams. He also had to trim his staff of 40 foreign nationals to three.
The GCAA has said its ban is a necessary safeguard to review the An-12's airworthiness, but has said nothing publicly about the investigation since it was announced.
However, in a document seen by The National, issued to operators on April 6, the day the ban was officially lifted, the authority cited deficiencies in crew performance, design flaws with the aircraft's steering system and an unknown number of An-12s used in the UAE that may not have been airworthy.
The document has puzzled the operators; it is not clear to which aircraft or incidents it refers. Since then, they say, the authority has been sending mixed messages. On April 9, three days after the ban was rescinded, a notice was issued by the GCAA dated April 5 and apparently extending the ban until July 4. At the same time, preconditions for a return to flights have been issued, including demands for a range of documents and certificates in English, relating to pilot training and items of equipment that the operators say never existed.
"Russian is an official language of the International Civil Aviation Organisation, so does this mean GCAA doesn't recognise ICAO authority?" says Alexander Smolin, general manager of Sky Support Service in Sharjah and a spokesman for An-12 cargo companies. The ICAO is the UN body that codifies global aviation standards.
Although getting on in years, the An-12 is certified as airworthy by the Antonov Design Bureau in Ukraine, and flown with the approval of local aviation authorities throughout Europe, Asia and Africa.
The reputation of some An-12 operators around the world is less cast-iron. Rumours abound of "cowboys" who regularly exceed the aircraft's 20-tonne payload limit, sometimes by up to 10 tonnes, earning it the nickname the "flying truck".
"You'd hear stories about these guys just throwing stuff into it until it was completely full, until it blocked things like [the] hydraulic system," says Saleem Majid, operations manager for an airline that used to fly the An-12 out of Fujairah.
"It was to a point where they couldn't reach things during flight. Then you wouldn't have access to emergency points when you needed them."
Even so, says Jean Paul Henrotte, an aircraft crash investigator for the European Commission in Brussels, that generally would not be justification to issue a blanket ban on all aircraft. Authorities in Europe typically punish only airlines and cargo operators responsible for violations.
The An-12, he says, probably does experience a higher rate of accidents than other aircraft, but this could be because of the type of environment and missions it typically flies rather than inherent flaws.
"You will never land a Boeing 777 or an Airbus A320 on a grass strip in the jungle, but you'll do it with an Antonov 12. There is also the operation factor. These aircraft operate very far from a place where they can be well maintained according to manufacturer standards. When they are somewhere in the middle of Africa, where you have little controls and regulations, then of course it's the law of the jungle."
Saif al Suwaidi, director general of the GCAA, said the newly imposed conditions were the "minimum acceptable standards" and that they were "permanent conditions, not temporary".
"These conditions are made to ensure high standards of safety because we cannot jeopardise safety," he said.
"Do you think it's acceptable to have an aircraft's documentation written in Russian in a country like the UAE? If the operators are stationed here, then it should be the language of the country. In the UAE, English is the language of aviation."
hnaylor@thenational.ae
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
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The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
ULTRA PROCESSED FOODS
- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns
- margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars;
- energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces
- infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes,
- many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts.
Other workplace saving schemes
- The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
- Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
- National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
- In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
- Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
Tottenham's 10 biggest transfers (according to transfermarkt.com):
1). Moussa Sissokho - Newcastle United - £30 million (Dh143m): Flop
2). Roberto Soldado - Valencia - £25m: Flop
3). Erik Lamela - Roma - £25m: Jury still out
4). Son Heung-min - Bayer Leverkusen - £25m: Success
5). Darren Bent - Charlton Athletic - £21m: Flop
6). Vincent Janssen - AZ Alkmaar - £18m: Flop
7). David Bentley - Blackburn Rovers - £18m: Flop
8). Luka Modric - Dynamo Zagreb - £17m: Success
9). Paulinho - Corinthians - £16m: Flop
10). Mousa Dembele - Fulham - £16m: Success
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
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Usain Bolt's World Championships record
2007 Osaka
200m Silver
4x100m relay Silver
2009 Berlin
100m Gold
200m Gold
4x100m relay Gold
2011 Daegu
100m Disqualified in final for false start
200m Gold
4x100m relay Gold
2013 Moscow
100m Gold
200m Gold
4x100m relay Gold
2015 Beijing
100m Gold
200m Gold
4x100m relay Gold
57%20Seconds
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Rusty%20Cundieff%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EJosh%20Hutcherson%2C%20Morgan%20Freeman%2C%20Greg%20Germann%2C%20Lovie%20Simone%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2%2F5%0D%3Cbr%3E%0D%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Fire and Fury
By Michael Wolff,
Henry Holt
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 620hp from 5,750-7,500rpm
Torque: 760Nm from 3,000-5,750rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch auto
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The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
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What are NFTs?
Are non-fungible tokens a currency, asset, or a licensing instrument? Arnab Das, global market strategist EMEA at Invesco, says they are mix of all of three.
You can buy, hold and use NFTs just like US dollars and Bitcoins. “They can appreciate in value and even produce cash flows.”
However, while money is fungible, NFTs are not. “One Bitcoin, dollar, euro or dirham is largely indistinguishable from the next. Nothing ties a dollar bill to a particular owner, for example. Nor does it tie you to to any goods, services or assets you bought with that currency. In contrast, NFTs confer specific ownership,” Mr Das says.
This makes NFTs closer to a piece of intellectual property such as a work of art or licence, as you can claim royalties or profit by exchanging it at a higher value later, Mr Das says. “They could provide a sustainable income stream.”
This income will depend on future demand and use, which makes NFTs difficult to value. “However, there is a credible use case for many forms of intellectual property, notably art, songs, videos,” Mr Das says.
Tesalam Aleik
Abdullah Al Ruwaished
(Rotana)
Quick%20facts
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Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
The%C2%A0specs%20
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WORLD CUP FINAL
England v South Africa
Yokohama International Stadium, Tokyo
Saturday, kick-off 1pm (UAE)
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Rating: 1/5
Three ways to limit your social media use
Clinical psychologist, Dr Saliha Afridi at The Lighthouse Arabia suggests three easy things you can do every day to cut back on the time you spend online.
1. Put the social media app in a folder on the second or third screen of your phone so it has to remain a conscious decision to open, rather than something your fingers gravitate towards without consideration.
2. Schedule a time to use social media instead of consistently throughout the day. I recommend setting aside certain times of the day or week when you upload pictures or share information.
3. Take a mental snapshot rather than a photo on your phone. Instead of sharing it with your social world, try to absorb the moment, connect with your feeling, experience the moment with all five of your senses. You will have a memory of that moment more vividly and for far longer than if you take a picture of it.
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
RESULTS
Tottenham 1
Jan Vertonghen 13'
Norwich 1
Josip Drmic 78'
2-3 on penalties
The%20specs
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2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
Awar Qalb
Director: Jamal Salem
Starring: Abdulla Zaid, Joma Ali, Neven Madi and Khadija Sleiman
Two stars
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
No more lice
Defining head lice
Pediculus humanus capitis are tiny wingless insects that feed on blood from the human scalp. The adult head louse is up to 3mm long, has six legs, and is tan to greyish-white in colour. The female lives up to four weeks and, once mature, can lay up to 10 eggs per day. These tiny nits firmly attach to the base of the hair shaft, get incubated by body heat and hatch in eight days or so.
Identifying lice
Lice can be identified by itching or a tickling sensation of something moving within the hair. One can confirm that a person has lice by looking closely through the hair and scalp for nits, nymphs or lice. Head lice are most frequently located behind the ears and near the neckline.
Treating lice at home
Head lice must be treated as soon as they are spotted. Start by checking everyone in the family for them, then follow these steps. Remove and wash all clothing and bedding with hot water. Apply medicine according to the label instructions. If some live lice are still found eight to 12 hours after treatment, but are moving more slowly than before, do not re-treat. Comb dead and remaining live lice out of the hair using a fine-toothed comb.
After the initial treatment, check for, comb and remove nits and lice from hair every two to three days. Soak combs and brushes in hot water for 10 minutes.Vacuum the floor and furniture, particularly where the infested person sat or lay.
Courtesy Dr Vishal Rajmal Mehta, specialist paediatrics, RAK Hospital
