General Inspectorate of Aviation (Romania)

The General Inspectorate of Aviation (Romanian: Inspectoratul General de Aviație - IGAv) (formerly Special Aviation Unit - Unitatea Specială de Aviație) is the Romanian Ministry of Internal Affairs's air component. The unit was initially established in 1948, but restructured in 1978. It has its overall headquarters at Aurel Vlaicu International Airport and operates five territorial flights in Bucharest, Caransebeș, Cluj-Napoca, Iași and Tulcea. The current General Inspector is General de flotilă aeriană Cătălin-Paul Dache. History Following the Second World War, it was decided to form an aviation structure that can serve the civil society. In this sense, the Air Transport Flotilla was established on 20 December 1948 at the Dudești-Cioplea airfield. Between 1949 and 1960, the unit was based on the Popești-Leordeni aerodrome, then it was moved to the Otopeni airport until 1973. From 1979 on, it is located at the Aurel Vlaicu International Airport. On 1 May 2008, the unit was reorganized by establishing the Aviation Inspectorate and four special aviation units subordinate to it located in Bucharest, Cluj Napoca, Iași, and Tulcea. Starting from 15 May the same year, the unit became operational. Missions Search and rescue missions. Humanitarian and community missions. Monitoring road traffic. Other special designation missions in cooperation with the Romanian Police, Gendarmerie or Romanian Intelligence Service. Structure and equipment Besides the five Special Aviation units (located in Bucharest, Caransebeș, Cluj-Napoca, Iași and Tulcea), the Inspectorate also has a Training and Development Detachment located in Bucharest (Detașamentul de Instruire și Perfecționare București), and an Aeromedical Detachment (Detașamentul Aeromedical). Aeromedical Detachment The Aeromedical Detachment, is a structure subordinated to the General Inspectorate of Aviation tasked with humanitarian life-saving missions. It performs flight missions as the air operator of the SMURD. The SMURD HEMS (Helicopter Emergency Medical System) bases are led by commanders appointed by the General Inspector of the General Aviation Inspectorate, while the personnel who perform the on-call service for the intervention are designated by the cooperating structures. Equipment Over the course of its history, the aviation structure operated various types of aircraft: Ju 52, Lockheed 10, Fiesler Storch, Fleet 10, Po-2, Klemm Kl 25, Klemm Kl 35, Heinkel He 111, Bücker Jungmeister, Messerschmitt Bf 108 Taifun, RWD 8, RWD 13, RWD-14, Aero L-60 Brigadýr, Aero 45, Li-2, An-2, and BN-2. Currently, there are 2 types of helicopters and four airplanes in service: In 2021, seven S-70M Black Hawk built by PZL Mielec were purchased. A total of 12 Black Hawks desired. First Black Hawk was delivered in November 2023, with the last being delivered in December. In December 2025, the first Black Hawk funded through the RescEU program was delivered. The helicopter will also be used to intervene during major disasters in other European countries, at the request of the European Union. On 26 January 2026, the Romanian Government presented the list of projects proposed under the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) programme for the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MAI) and the other institutions. According to the published proposal, MAI planned the acquisition of seven medium-heavy multirole helicopters, and two multi-role aircraft. On 29 May 2026, MAI officially announced the purchase of five Airbus H145 and seven Airbus H160 helicopters, as well as two Alenia C-27J New Generation Spartan through the SAFE funding. Initially planned to be retired in 2029, the Mil Mi-8 and Mi-17 helicopters were retired earlier from service in 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent international sanctions imposed on Russia. In addition, the two IAR 316B helicopters were also withdrawn from service in 2023 and 2024 respectively. References External links (in Romanian) Official website