Wanna go flying in Russia?

[Whirlybird]

I was supposed to be going helicopter flying in Russia in September for 10 days. It now likes like being cancelled; a couple of people can't go and there aren't enough to make it economically viable. Would anyone like to go? You get to fly interesting f/w and rotary aircraft at (relatively) ridiculously cheap prices - for what they are, that is. Examples: MI2 $220/hr, MI8 $450, Yak 18T $160, AN2 $220, LET 410 $350, L29 $500, L39 $660. There are also jets - MIG 21, 25, 29, 31, and visits to Star City (cosmonaut training place) and other interesting things. You arrange your own flights, accommodation, food, guides etc is around $1300, and you pay for whatever flying you want. See http://home.worldonline.nl/~aeropriz for more details. If you want to go, or are considering it, email Nathalie at [email protected] NOW. Her go/no go cut off date is 22nd July!

Please come cos I wanna go!!!!!

(BTW I'm going away for the weekend, so don't expect any more details from me for a couple of days)

[BRL]

Here you are Whirly I will leave this up for you until the 21st. :)

(see, i am not that bad of a mod now am i .. :) )

[stiknruda]

Whirly,


Fly in Russia and pay in US dollars - I'd rather chew silver paper!

Er - I don't have a passport, furthest I want to go is Suffolk!


hope you get to go, have a great time

luv

Stik

[pilotwolf]

..still trying desperately to raise the $$$ and get the leave!

ANYONE WANT TO BUY A SLIGHTLY (AB)USED HELICOPTER PILOT'S BODY?????
:D

[LowNSlow]

stik Suffolk and what? (say it quick)

Whirly I'm already there :D I work just a bit to the West of Baikonar/Star City (approx 1,000 km West, close in local terms), in an interesting resort on the North Caspian ;). If you are visiting Star City I hope you are either staying in Kazakhstan (which is where it is) or are flying there cos the surface transport infrastructure here is turgid to say the least. :(

It's currently 38 C here at 08:55 am. Be prepared for density altitude calcs :cool: On the positive side, 0.5 litre of Amstel (Dutch beer for the teetotallers) is GBP1.2. Marvellous :D :D

[Daifly]

Having visited Russia late last year for a flight in a MiG-29 I can definately recommend it. It's an amazing place, the flying is some of the best I've experienced, far less restricted than anything on this sceptered isle...! How many places in the world let you fly (yep, any aircraft) at 250 feet or less over populated areas? Actually, from a safety point of view, perhaps that's not such a good thing!

If you can sell the wife/children/mother in law/house and go, do it!

Hope you get the numbers Whirly - have a great time.

Dai.

[Whirlybird]

Big Red L,

You're wonderful!!!!!

I'm just home and found an e-mail from Nathalie saying she has found one more person, and so we're going!!!! We could do with more to keep costs down though, but I think this has made it just about possible. Anyway, dates are now definitely Aug 30th to Sept 8th. If you think you MIGHT be able to go, e-mail Nathalie anyway and get details.

[Whirlybird]

Dates now probably Sept 13th - 22nd. Nathalie's trying to find a week that suits all participants.

[Rob_L]

Hey Whirlie: want a laugh? This is what happened when I planned a trip to Russia:

Ref your flight to UMKK with Cessna 150.

Please be informed that according to Russian rules navigator escort is requierd for VFR flights. Navagator offices are located in Moscow and St.Petersburg only. So flight should land in Moscow or St.Petersburg to pick up the navigator or the navigator will wait for you at Gdansk.

Prices for the navigator svcs are the following (according to Russian
AIP):
- salary - $180 per day
- allowance - $65 per day
- hotel accom - $120 per day
- ticket (1st class) from navigator office to starting point of
escorting
- ticket (1st class) from ending point of escorting to the navigator
office.

Prices at UMKK are the following:
1) AIRNAVIGATION FEES - 3.9 USD PER MT OF MTOW
2) LANDINGS FEE - 9.1 USD PER MT OF MTOW
3) PARKING - 20 PER CENT OF LANDING FEE PER 24 HRS
4) SECURITY - 0.9 USD PER TON OF MTOW
5) PAX TAX - 5.1 USD PER TAX
6) G.HANDLING FOR ACFT WITH MTOW:
- UP TO 10 TONS - 50 USD
7) CLEANING FOR ACFT WITH MTOW:
- UP TO 25 TONS - 10 USD
8) GPU - 1 USD PER MINUTE
9) ASU - 30 USD
-----------------------------
HOTEL, ****, DAILY RATE - 70-113 USD INCL VAT AND BREAKFAST"

Since this suggested you could fly to St. Pete's or Moscow without the navigator, I questioned this apparent anomaly. Needless to say this isn't allowed VFR either. So you'd need to fly IFR to Moscow to pick him up to fly VFR to destination!

I declined the invitation, obviously. Will it ever change there?

Now aren't you glad you've got Nathalie sorting it all out for you?

[Whirlybird]

I just thought you might all like to know this is definitely happening! I now have ticket, visa, and lots of $$$. Thames Consular Services got my visa painlessly for a fee, and I'm flying to Moscow on Sept 13th, a cheap flight with Lufthansa arranged through Airline Network. Nathalie's meeting me at the airport, I hope, and after that we'll see. I'm starting to get really excited.

I don't think I'll have Internet access to post anything there, but would you all like to hear about it when I get back?

[Daifly]

I'd love to hear about how you get on in Russia - I'm all for it over there! The Aviation scene depends highly on investment in ways such as this to survive - and when you think of the aircraft and technology that came out of Russia up to the early 1990's then it's wrong to not support them now.

On a technical note; I deal with the Russian authorities on an almost daily basis and they are getting much better and far more westernised by the day. The navigator is a throwback to the Cold War days when they didn't want you to go anywhere other than where they wanted you to go (those who've listened to David Gunson's CD recently will remember the "Speed, Height and Heading" joke) - and now they carry on because, once again, it brings in money to the country. It's only about 5 years (if I remember correctly) since they stopped needing Navigators on IFR flights in the country. That's been one major development, so I would imagine that eventually the requirement will go for VFR too - when they realise that if they took that requirement away they'd have more people coming and spending money there.

However, that said, if you're going there you do need an awful lot of $US. It pays for everything and everything is costly for tourists - it's their two-tiered pricing structure.

Anyway Whirly, do write it all down here when you return! Have a great time.