Africa News
April 2, 2000

Uganda;Mystery Planes Repainted At Entebbe Airport
BYLINE:
Emmy Allio, New Vision (Kampala)

Kampala - A syndicate involving local officials and aviation personnel from Eastern Europe is illegally painting and registering aircraft at the Entebbe Airport, the Sunday Vision has discovered.

Sources say the racket involves planes believed to be stolen from former Soviet Union republics and flown to Entebbe with fake registration documents.

After landing at Entebbe the planes are parked at the military-occupied zone of the old Entebbe airport and then their original marks are removed. They are repainted and new fake registration printed onto them, sources said.

Sources pinpointed at least one aircraft repainted and remarked in Entebbe, which was flown to Kigali where the Rwandese army used it until it was grounded.

War-torn Democratic Republic of Congo is reportedly the main destination of these planes. There is no authority to register or monitor planes in rebel held parts of DRC.

The syndicate is headed by polish citizens Daniel Flisisinki and a woman called Alicja Pierkaska, who call themselves president and marketing manager of Polonia Airlines respectively. But aviation sources said Polonia airlines does not have an air service licence or an air operators certificate in Poland.

The group works closely with a Ukranian citizen, Leonid Ignatienko who is an expatriate mechanic with UPDF Airforce. He also describes himself a representative of Polonia Airlines in Uganda.

Recently, Flisisinki and Pierkaska arrived at Entebbe airport aboard an LET 410 aircraft registration UR-67022. The plane was piloted and co-piloted by Captain Przybylowicz (a Pole) and Leonid (a Ukrainian).

Sunday Vision learnt that the suspicion of the local aviation authorities was aroused because the documents of the aircraft seemed fake. Some letters and figures were typed in while others were hand-written.

The certificate of airworthiness for export, written in Russian, indicated the destination of the aircraft as Hungary, but the aircraft ended up in Entebbe.

The certificate of airworthiness serial number 810623 was purported to be issued on August 13, 1997. But the figures 13 on the date were hand-written.

The documents show that the aircraft, whose manufacturer's serial number is L-410UVP, was a product of Czech Republic's LET aircraft factory. But the crew did not have any documentation from the manufacturers to enable the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) register the aircraft in Uganda. Also forged is the certificate of cancellation, serial number PB 0327. So without registration, they had no insurance cover as required by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

Sources said on arrival in Uganda, the aircraft was taken to the military side of the old airport, where the Ukrainian registration number were erased and the aircraft repainted in a new colours.

UPDF's Ukranian expatriate mechanic, Leonid Ignatienko is said to have used his influence at the airbase during the rubbing, repainting and remarking of the aircraft.

Daniel Flisisuki then tried to register this aircraft in Uganda through a Ugandan company called Aero Support. CAA, however, declined to register it because it lacked the vital documents and clearance from LET aircraft factory of the Czech Republic before it could be registered in Uganda.

After failing to register it, Daniel Flisisnki painted fake Moldova registration marks on the aircraft and flew it to Rwanda in January 1999 where it operated for the Rwandan airforce without proper scheduled maintenance or insurance. Moldova registration begins with the letters ER..

Sources said the aircraft has since been grounded in Kanombe airport in Kigali. But aviation sources said that ICAO rules do not permit an aircraft to park in public airports without a third-party insurance.

Aviation law dictates that no aircraft should have registration marks altered unless the original country of its registration has de-registered it and a certificate of cancellation is issued.

The law also requires that the original country of registration must issue a certificate of export, which must clearly indicate the country of destination. If the aircraft is parked in a foreign country, the civil aviation authority of the host country must be informed by the original country of registration in writing.

Another suspicious aircraft brought to this region by Daniel Flisisinki is an Antanov 28 with registration ER - ALS. It landed at Entebbe International Airport on Friday this week en route to Kigali. The Moldovan registered aircraft had blue stripes on its white body. It had vertical stabilizers. Moldova is a small country of 4.5 million inhabitants located between Ukraine and Romania.

Mr. Ignin Igundura, the public relations officer of CAA yesterday said CAA refused to register the LET 410 aircraft because it did not have correct documents. He said the aircraft was later flown to Rwanda and later registered there.

It is not known whether the Rwandan authorities used the plane knowing that it was stolen and had fake registration. Officials in Kigali said they will investigate the incident.

Igundura said: "We refused to register it because it did not meet certain specifications to allow it to operate in this region. But that does not stop other countries from registering it. The plane later flew to Kigali."

Sources at Entebbe said Daniel Flisisuki and Leonid Ignatienko are currently entangled in another row over the business of repainting at Entebbe airport. This time round they have repainted one aircraft, registration SP-DFA, an Antonov 28 which was brought into Uganda by Tropical Airways. There is also ownership row over the same aircraft.

In a September 1, 1999 letter to the managing director of CAA, the managing director of Tropical Airways, Cornell Wandera accused Flisisuki and Ignatienko of planning to steal the aircraft which is owned by PZL-Mielec aircraft company.

Until October 1996, the Tropical Airways had leased the aircraft from PZL- Mielec of Poland. Sources said Tropical Airways parked it at the Police Airwing area at the old Entebbe terminal for safe custody while waiting for the aircraft owners to come for it.

Sources said Daniel Flisisuki and Leonid Ignatienko have removed the Polish registration marks and altered the paint scheme without the clearance of the CAA.

"Ignatienko is using his military connections within UPDF to deny the managing director of Tropical Airways access to where he had parked the aircraft for safe custody," a source said.

Aviation sources say painting of an aircraft affects its centre of gravity and its airworthiness. After painting, an aicraft must be reweighed to determine its centre of gravity.

The managing director of Tropical Airways, Cornell Wandera said the colour of his aircraft was changed by Ignatienko and group from blue/white to white/red.

The Managing Director of CAA, Ambrose Akandonda Friday said the row over the Antonov-28 is being legally resolved.

Ignin Igundura said he has a letter dated February 24, 2000 from PZL-Mielec of Poland indicating that Wandera's plane has been purchased by Polonis airlines. He said the repainting does not matter.

Wandera said, "It is double standards. These same east Europeans bring stolen planes, repaint them and forge their registrations. How can CAA trust the same group of mafia?"

"I am the one who took my plane to the Police Airwing zone for safe custody. I have never received a communication from PZL-Mielec of Poland.

Now the army are stopping me from reaching the aircraft," Wandera said.

Wandera said he demands US$ 41,045 from PZL-Mielec of Poland before they reposses the plane or sell it. He said his lawyers, Nangwala and Company Advocates, are handling the dispute.

The army in Entebbe have denied involvement in the syndicate. "It is true Leonid Ignatienko is employed as a mechanic here but the army is not responsible for his actions outside here. He is only supposed to work on UPDF aircraft," an official at the airbase said.

Asked on the aircraft in question, the official said: "The army is not the only CAA squatter at the old airport. There is the Police Airwing and Uganda Airlines. We see and aircraft parked here, but have no powers over it."

Deputy police PRO, Eric Naigambi said the police has nothing to do with the aircraft. He said, " CAA and the army must know about that aircraft. Leave police out such issues." Attempts by Sunday Vision for four days to trace Ignatienko or his Polish associates were futile. Persons taking the phone calls at the airbase in Entebbe said Ignatienko was up-country on an assignment.

"These people are thieves taking advantage of their positions at Entebbe and using money to twist some Ugandans," Wandera yesterday told Sunday Vision Earlier, a meeting in January 1999 in the of office the corporation secretary of the CAA attended by the parties involved ruled that Flisisink of Polonia Airlines "did not hold title to the aircraft in question."

That meeting resolved that Polonia Airlines must come to Uganda with of the directors of PZL-Mielec factory to receive the aircraft from Tropical Airways and clear the bills incurred by the aircraft since it was grounded in 1997. Sources said CAA insists that 'a genuine' representative of PZL-Mielec comes to resolve the dispute.

Even if PZL-Mielec factory of Poland representatives come, they will have to settle US$25,045 (about Sh.38m) owed to Sincereways of Nairobi for repairs and storage of spare parts at Entebbe.

The poles will also have to pay parking fees to CAA before the plane is allowed to leave.

A letter of March 23, 2000, from Wandera to CAA says that all documents Polonia Airlines shows to CAA are forged because PZL-Mielec is now in liquidation and has never written to the Tropical airways instructing them to hand over the aircraft.

In the same letter, Wandera said Daniel Flisisnki was trying to intimidate him by involving an officer of the UPDF Airforce in the aircraft saga.

Sources also said Ignatienko and Flisisnki are involved in an operation involving some big Russian-built aircraft, which have been flying between Entebbe and rebel-controlled DRC where they operate without valid licences and insurance cover.

Sources said when the certificate of airworthiness expires, the Ukranian crew just fake documents without inspection by the civil aviation authorities of the countries of registration. When these civil planes are in Uganda, they are flown masquerading as UPDF aircraft.

In September 1998, another civilian aircraft without a valid airworthiness certificate violated the procedures at Entebbe and bulldozed its way past the CAA to go on a business in Congo. Unfortunately it crashed and a senior UPDF officer, Lt Col Jet Mwebaze was among the