Flying to/from Russia (UUDD)

[Flaps45]

Please help to gather any navigational info to prepare to fly in and out of Moscow Domodedovo airport.

I guess they use meters QFE, not QNH - will they give me a QNH alt. setting on request?
What's transition level - on the charts it says "by ATC"?
Is on the ATIS alt. setting in MM or hPa?

Do the controllers give vectors to intercept ILS's or do you have to fly full arrival and someone told me, to report all turns and alt. changes??!!

Are the controllers hard to understand?

What are the common mistakes made by them or by foreign pilots flying in CIS airspace?


Thanks

[Carnage Matey!]

Haven't been there often but from what I can remember the altimeter settings are all QFE in HPa. I think they use metric flight levels (metres) above transition alt and heights below TA. The controllers are rather difficult to understand. Expect to be vectored towards a locator beacon at about a 4d final then given a wide 270 degree turn to intercept the localiser from the opposite side. You may find you are given a 90 degree closing heading and expected to establish yourself. There didn't appear to be a requirement to report heading changes whilst intercepting the localiser. Whilst vectoring do not be surprised to see outbound traffic on a reciprocal track to you climbing to 1000ft below your level. Full use of aircraft external lights recommended! The main problem I encountered was converting the metric altimetry to western imperial units. Our SOP is to convert metric clearances to feet then set the feet figure in the computers. It is very easy to read back the clearance in feet rather than the actual metric clearance.
One other unusual feature is the use of 'start spots'. If pushing back from a stand your clearance may include a 'start spot'. You will be expected to push back to this position (which is designated on the charts) before starting engines.
Also the runway is extremely bumpy, and braking action measurements are sometimes unavailable which can lead to problems in snowy weather.

[Ghostflyer]

Pretty straight forward if using Jepps.

Metres standard down to TL.
Metres QNH below that.
They do give you QNH in Mb on request which you can check versus the QFE by adding 20mb (597') to the QFE and versus the QNH which is on the ATIS. There is a m to feet conversion table on the chart and you can then just fly feet.

The rest from Carnage was good gen.

Ghost

[popay]

In ATIS they`ll give you the transition level in meters (normally 1500m or 1800m - 4900f and 5900f accordingly), also they`ll give you both QFE and QNH in hPa (QFE in MM as well).I guess you can request QNH approach but there`s no problem flying QFE.All you have to do is to substract airport altitude (587`) from MSA (I think you know that).And just remember the two heights below the transition - 2600`(800m)- it`s a kind of an aerodrome circle (orbit) height(the first height you`ll be allowed to descend below the transition) and 1700`(500m)- glideslope intersection height.Normally you`ll hear the phrase like "descend 800m QFE 1001mb" you`ll have to repeat it.And we are to tell the ATC the altimeter setting when crossing the transition.
And remember Moscow is a prohibited zone.Normally you`ll get full vectoring but if you`re going downwind on 14L/R and see that a little bit more and you`re gonna cross the line just say that you`re ready to turn base. Normally you`ll be given a heading for LOC capture but they`ll give you just heading ,you won`t hear the permission for capturing like "advise when LOC captured" so you can make a mistake of not arming the VOR/LOC and overshooting (because finally you`ll hear "turn final" but it cis always too late).So if you get a heading with what you can capture the LOC and permission to descend to 500m(1700`) it should be a signal for you to arm VOR/LOC.
On the take-off the first cleared altitude on the MCP should be 2600` and after take-off contact 127.7 as soon as you can (expect a permission to climb and maintain 800m(2600`).Transition altitude - 1000m(3300`).
And you`d better ask your mates who`s been here as they could add a lot to what I said as they see the whole thing from your point of view.You know we are used to things that might seem completely insane to you (Soviet heritage is not easily to get rid of).

[Jetset320]

One peculiarity is that you will not be given landing clearence unless you yourself declare that you are "Ready to Land". This means that basically you are established and gear is down (with three greens!). On many occasions it will slip your mind to declare such, and the ATCO will excitedly ask you at around 500ft if you are "Ready to Land" after which you will get your landing clearence.

I also find decent into Domodedovo quite eratic, often being kept high until clear of conflicting traffic, though coming to think of it TAs are quite a common occurence to on the way up and down.

ATC is pretty standard as long as no deviation from standard is experienced. The moment you ask for something 'not quite standard', the poor guy sounds lost (due to language difficulties), and often a conversation in Russian develops between some other well-intentioned Russian pilot and ATC, after which you may get an answer. Having said that some ATCOs have very good english, one even with an American accent!

By coincidence I'm off their again tomorrow and will probably use thier de-icing facilities for the first time! Any feedback on this issue? Pretty standard?

[Aslak]

Haven't been UUDD many times, but in UUEE and UUWW + about 30 or so other ex-soviet airports many many times during the past 7 years.

In Russian, if possible and you go there often, use the QFE. That is the system controller know for sure!
If you don't have an airplane where you can set meters on altimeter instead of feets, make your self a nice table/chart and keep that handy. A lot easier than looking through Jepp's for every climb or decent.

In Moscow, besides of approach "procedures" previous writers told you about, be ready for series of step climbs and change of controllers. Sometimes you have had 5 step climbs and maybe 4 controllers before you reach equivalent of 15000 ft. Moscow approach control zones seem to be sliced rather horizontally than geographically.

In any case, system has changed towards user friedly (or western friendly) procedures during the past years. Or maybe I am just getting used to it...:)

Jetset320:
De-icing: They do use liquid called "Arctica" in most places. Extreamly sticky, sometimes you can find remains of it all over places after hours of flight. Works.
Just don´t get it over you windshield!
When window heat is turned on, this clear thing turns into white/gray stuff that can not be seen through.

Good Luck! (as the ATCO's tell you in Russia)
:ok:

[Popolama]

I guess they use meters QFE, not QNH - will they give me a QNH alt. setting on request?

they use QFE but they can give you QNH if you ask for

What's transition level - on the charts it says "by ATC"?
Is on the ATIS alt. setting in MM or hPa?

TL (FL180 ;) ) TL is variable
as far as i remember QFE is only broadtcasted on ATIS

Do the controllers give vectors to intercept ILS's or do you have to fly full arrival and someone told me, to report all turns and alt. changes??!!

they usually do . be careful when descending below TL
calculate QNH from QFE well before and compare it to the one given by atc you can then keep your descend on QNH not a big deal.
on the back of some jeppesen enroute charts you have the meter to feets and feets to meter conversion table
sometimes on departure they don't want you to follow SID's...you keep rwy heading and contact 127.7 after TO.

Are the controllers hard to understand?

they are really....


Be safe





;)

[Flaps45]

Thank you very, very much!! It helps a lot and I appreciate your time and effort!

Fly safely