Costs of overflight
Hi,
I was planning a flight to Moscow Sheremetyevo in May (in a DA40).
A friend of mine runs a low cost airline based in Moscow so was able to help.
Conclusions I reached:
(a) IFR - OK with an IR and English only; VFR - Russian speaking person in the cockpit "essential"
(b) no problem landing at a civil airfield providing you book beforehand; e.g. Sheremetyevo is almost their equivalent of Heathrow, but landing fee - US $24; parking for one week US $36 (all costs in US $)
(c) BUT overflight permissions to Moscow costs the same it seems as a much larger jet. I don't remember the breakdown exactly but in all it came to ~ $2,000 for my DA40, Moscow to the border and back. (So in the end I flew to Berlin then commercial from there to Moscow.)
I guess it should be a lot less if you are only going to St. Petersburg but it is worth checking the cost of this.
(d) AVGAS is not available
(e) and a minor point: you probably want to be familiar with metres/change settings to metres, as that is what they give you on approach and a bit inconvenient to be asking for translations at that point.
(f) Russian visa: if you take the cheap route (~10 days after you have the invitation voucher) it costs £90 per person and has an exact entry & exit date. Allow plenty of time before and after these dates, but you have to get a hotel or someone else to confirm those dates and issue a voucher before you can apply for the visa. If you are early arriving and you are unlucky you may get locked in a hotel room with a guard outside (depending upon how they are feeling and how much you are willing to pay an 'on-the-spot fine'); plus don't be late leaving or you may get a much larger fine (as well as getting locked in a room with the guard outside).