Post by Deleted on Jan 25, 2021 23:27:40 GMT 1
The recent flurry of former Soviet visitors to LPL encouraged me to get out the shoebox and see what I could dig out, so here is a selection of photos taken during visits to Russia during the 'Yeltsin Years'. Some have been posted before, but it was a while ago:
A general view of Sheremetyevo's main parking area on the northeast of the airport, before Domodedovo took over the mantle of the number one airport in Moscow. Personally, I always preferred Sheremetyevo; there was the Novotel with a view over the apron, which had English beer on draught and it's a lot closer to the centre of Moscow - what's not to like about that!
A view in the opposite direction, with an IL-76 ploughing its way through the snow. I often think this almost looks like a painting.
Arriving at Sheremetyevo in the 125. The Alitalia 747 was an unusual visitor.
The other end of the terminal. Our agent's hangar was opposite across the other side of the parallel runways, but there was no room in the hangar that night, so our nice shiny aeroplane had to sit outside and the temp. dropped to -30C. It took quite a bit de-icing the following morning!
If we weren't overnighting, they would park us in the cargo area. This proved to be fortuitous on one occasion, as I was able to grab a sneaky photo of this Koryo IL-18 just as the sun was setting and before the customs and immigration team arrived!
Better weather now and we're at the Moscow Air Show. We had taken the 125 and I was able to have a quick stroll around the static before the hordes arrived. This was the first time I had ever seen one of these in the metal, so to speak. Note that there is no prefix to the former CCCP reg, because at the time, Ukraine hadn't been given its new prefix. It was probably very new at the time.
Another new aircraft on display at a later show was the Sukhoi Superjet 100. This one, wearing it's Paris Air Show ID number, sadly crashed in Indonesia in 2012 whilst on a demo flight, killing all on board.
The hordes had begun to arrive by the time I reached RED 50, but well worth a photo, even with onlookers.
Further south now, to the Black Sea resort of Gelendzhik, which boasts a perfect natural harbour - ideal for an air show featuring amphibious aircraft and here are the Rytsari (Knights) to introduce their sea-going compatriots. These guys do an excellent show, including the use of rockets as part of their display.
The Beriev A 42 Albatross makes its way out of the water and onto the ramp after its display.
Not to be outdone by the Swifts, the two Beriev 200s do a bit of formation flying.
...and now a solo pass showing it's water dropping capabilities. I have never understood why this aircraft hasn't sold more in parts of the world where there are frequent forest fires.
One of the more unusual places we took the 125 to was Elista in southern Russia. A most un-Russian place, which has the largest Buddhist temple in Europe. The guy standing in front of the aircraft was pure KGB though. I politely asked him in my best Russian if he could move for a moment, but he ignored me.
A view of the parking area at Elista, showing a typical line-up of the available aircraft at a Russian outstation. Each airport we visited away from the highly populated areas had a similar group of aircraft parked up.
The Turkmenistan aircraft, on delivery, still carrying its British registration. There was some confusion in ICAO as to which prefix they had allocated. At one point it was to be EK-, but at the last minute, for reasons known only to ICAO, it was changed to EZ-
Just to prove that the sun does shine in Russia sometimes, here is the 146-100 demonstrator, (technically the RJ 70, hence the reg G-ALXX), at Sochi. The demonstration was being shown live on TV and involved a fair bit of hairy low-level flying around the coast.
After the demo was over, the guy we were demonstrating to invited me to lunch the following day. I turned up at his office in the airport and we went across to the other side, where there were several Mil helicopters. Before I knew it, we were parked up on the top of a mountain in the Caucasus and heading for a barbecue!
A general view of Sheremetyevo's main parking area on the northeast of the airport, before Domodedovo took over the mantle of the number one airport in Moscow. Personally, I always preferred Sheremetyevo; there was the Novotel with a view over the apron, which had English beer on draught and it's a lot closer to the centre of Moscow - what's not to like about that!
A view in the opposite direction, with an IL-76 ploughing its way through the snow. I often think this almost looks like a painting.
Arriving at Sheremetyevo in the 125. The Alitalia 747 was an unusual visitor.
The other end of the terminal. Our agent's hangar was opposite across the other side of the parallel runways, but there was no room in the hangar that night, so our nice shiny aeroplane had to sit outside and the temp. dropped to -30C. It took quite a bit de-icing the following morning!
If we weren't overnighting, they would park us in the cargo area. This proved to be fortuitous on one occasion, as I was able to grab a sneaky photo of this Koryo IL-18 just as the sun was setting and before the customs and immigration team arrived!
Better weather now and we're at the Moscow Air Show. We had taken the 125 and I was able to have a quick stroll around the static before the hordes arrived. This was the first time I had ever seen one of these in the metal, so to speak. Note that there is no prefix to the former CCCP reg, because at the time, Ukraine hadn't been given its new prefix. It was probably very new at the time.
Another new aircraft on display at a later show was the Sukhoi Superjet 100. This one, wearing it's Paris Air Show ID number, sadly crashed in Indonesia in 2012 whilst on a demo flight, killing all on board.
The hordes had begun to arrive by the time I reached RED 50, but well worth a photo, even with onlookers.
Further south now, to the Black Sea resort of Gelendzhik, which boasts a perfect natural harbour - ideal for an air show featuring amphibious aircraft and here are the Rytsari (Knights) to introduce their sea-going compatriots. These guys do an excellent show, including the use of rockets as part of their display.
The Beriev A 42 Albatross makes its way out of the water and onto the ramp after its display.
Not to be outdone by the Swifts, the two Beriev 200s do a bit of formation flying.
...and now a solo pass showing it's water dropping capabilities. I have never understood why this aircraft hasn't sold more in parts of the world where there are frequent forest fires.
One of the more unusual places we took the 125 to was Elista in southern Russia. A most un-Russian place, which has the largest Buddhist temple in Europe. The guy standing in front of the aircraft was pure KGB though. I politely asked him in my best Russian if he could move for a moment, but he ignored me.
A view of the parking area at Elista, showing a typical line-up of the available aircraft at a Russian outstation. Each airport we visited away from the highly populated areas had a similar group of aircraft parked up.
The Turkmenistan aircraft, on delivery, still carrying its British registration. There was some confusion in ICAO as to which prefix they had allocated. At one point it was to be EK-, but at the last minute, for reasons known only to ICAO, it was changed to EZ-
Just to prove that the sun does shine in Russia sometimes, here is the 146-100 demonstrator, (technically the RJ 70, hence the reg G-ALXX), at Sochi. The demonstration was being shown live on TV and involved a fair bit of hairy low-level flying around the coast.
After the demo was over, the guy we were demonstrating to invited me to lunch the following day. I turned up at his office in the airport and we went across to the other side, where there were several Mil helicopters. Before I knew it, we were parked up on the top of a mountain in the Caucasus and heading for a barbecue!
