"We will toughen procedures for testing pilots, increasing the number of training hours, especially for co-pilots," Igor Levitin said.
The minister's announcement came after a government panel he leads in investigating the August 2006 crash of a Russian airliner in Ukraine reported that the accident had been the result of errors committed by a co-pilot because of his poor training level.
The Pulkovo Airlines Tu-154 crashed August 22 near the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk while carrying out a flight from the Black Sea resort of Anapa to St. Petersburg. All the 170 people on board, including 160 passengers and ten crewmembers, died in the crash.
A storm that raged in the area at the time was initially believed to be the main cause of the accident, but investigators on the Interstate Aviation Commission said the weather had no major adverse effect on the plane's avionics. They said, however, that the crew was not adequately trained to maneuver a plane in complicated weather conditions and that its actions lacked coordination.
They also said that the jet was in a good technical condition.
