Fear of flying in Russia

A fighter jet plows through a crowd at a military air show in Ukraine, killing 83

MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- As inquiries continue into a deadly month of air disasters, questions are being raised about the safety of aviation in the former Soviet Union.

Three accidents struck Russia and Ukraine in July, killing a total of 168 people -- many of them children.

"Anyone who wants to be complacent about airline safety over here would be very foolish indeed," says aviation analyst Paul Duffy. "I think it requires a lot of attention -- a lot of monitoring."

Stiff, Duffy says, overall aviation safety levels in Russia are satisfactory -- in spite of the recent accidents.

AVIATION FACTS • Russia has 300 air operators, including 117 passenger airlines   • Investigators say stabiliser problem may have caused Il-86 crash   • Prosecutor says Ukraine jet should not have flown over spectators   • During the Soviet era, Aeroflot was the biggest airline in the world

The recent spate of tragedies began on July 1, when a Russia passenger jet carrying dozens of children on summer vacation collided in midair with a cargo plane over Germany, killing 71 people.

Three weeks later, a fighter jet plows through a crowd of horrified spectators at a military air show in Ukraine, killing 83 people, including 24 children.

And the next day, near Moscow, a Russian-built passenger jet with no passengers aboard plummets to earth shortly after takeoff, killing 14 crewmembers.

All three accidents are different. But Katya, who was about to board a Russian airline flying to Spain, says she's worried.

"Everyone's scared, but I don't know, we're kind of used to it already, so you've got to take a chance," she says.

14 people were killed when a jet crashed on takeoff from a Moscow airport

In the early 1990s, after the fall of the Soviet Union, the country's mammoth airline, Aeroflot, was broken up into smaller companies. Morale and professionalism plummeted -- and so did safety levels.

Today, there are 117 passenger airlines in Russia -- some of them so small they have to rent their planes.

One of the biggest problems, according to one Russian pilot, is old equipment.

"Nothing new is coming on line. The old equipment remains, and the older it gets the more breakdowns there are," says the pilot, who wanted to be identified only as "Aleksey."

In Ukraine, the cash-starved air force can hardly afford enough fuel for its military pilots to practice.

"When I hear how many practice runs these pilots have -- for example, 30-50 hours (a year), sometimes less -- I have to say it's completely inadequate," says Mikhail Simonov of the Sukhoi Aircraft Design Bureau.

According to an international monitoring group, the Interstate Aviation Committee, 80 percent of aviation accidents in the former Soviet Union over the past 10 years were caused by human error.

71 people died when a cargo plane and Russian jet collided in midair

Meanwhile, Russians continue hearing more bad news. In mid-July, Russian TV reported on three emergency landings -- in three different cities -- in one day.

Some people here call it "sudba," or fate.

Others say Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union need some down-to-earth investment in their aviation industries -- with new planes, better training and tighter monitoring of equipment.