Cavok AN12's

[Akrotiri bad boy]

Nice to hear the Cavok Antonovs clawing across Yorkshire. FR24 shows Liverpool - Gothenburg, has anyone any further info on what they're carrying and how long the contract's likely to last?

Akro

[SpringHeeledJack]

Aren't they active in the car parts/logistics/just in time sector ?

[Council Van]

Another AN12 has just turned up at Liverpool from Luxembourg. I knew what it was as soon as I heard it flying over my house in North Staffs.

I always remember watching the remains of one falling out of the sky in the form of Aluminium Oxide as we sat on the flight deck of a DHL75 at Leipzig after one caught fire on start up. Whilst the fire fighters dealt with the blaze the airfield was shut. The resulting delay was around one hour which meant I was one hour later getting to bed that morning in which ever European City I ended up in.

Fortunately all the crew escaped uninjured, the same could not be said for it's cargo of thousands of day old chicks.

​​​​​​When I was at DHL we would sometimes fly what was described as explosives on the cargo manifest from Gothenburg to Leipzig, apparently they were actually the devices that made the air bags in cars inflate.

[WHBM]

Nice to hear the Cavok Antonovs clawing across Yorkshire. FR24 shows Liverpool - Gothenburg, has anyone any further info on what they're carrying and how long the contract's likely to last?
I heard it come overhead London City earlier today, apparently routing Paris to Liverpool. At 18,000 feet its approach was quite audible from inside a building. They are regulars over here, generally routing north-south, though one passed over at an angle in the summer, doing Gothenburg to Barcelona, thence on into Africa. That one was nicely visible as the met was, most appropriately, CAVOK.

[barry lloyd]

Yes, carrying car parts out from Merseyside. One brought in tomatoes from the Canaries for a large supermarket chain over last weekend. These are hard-working aircraft, both from CAVOK and Ukraine Air Alliance. Anyone who tracks their last 10 sectors will be amazed by the amount of work they get through.
It's been going on for a months now on an ad-hoc basis. How long it will continue is anyone's guess.

[KelvinD]

I am sure I read on another thread that they were carrying stuff for the oil/gas field industry.

[jensdad]

I am sure I read on another thread that they were carrying stuff for the oil/gas field industry.
They do a bit of that as well, Kelvin. They can often be seen on FR24 going down into some of the more dangerous parts of Algeria, for example.

[barry lloyd]

You may have done and there may have been the occasional oil-related charter, but currently it is.definitely car parts.The destination is usually Gothenburg, home of Volvo.

[EladElap]

They do a bit of that as well, Kelvin. They can often be seen on FR24 going down into some of the more dangerous parts of Algeria, for example.

Which "dangerous parts" of Algeria?

[WHBM]

Back in July another Ukrainian An12 routed overhead me and London City at FL 210 on a fine summer evening, audible, so I looked up, and visible (in fact glinting in the sun), which was actually flying Plovdiv, Bulgaria - Frankfurt Hahn - Shannon - St Johns Nfld - Greenville SC - Houston Tx. Now that's quite a run for one of these old girls to make.

Hahn to Greenville was likely BMW car parts, their US assembly plant is at the latter. Houston for an onward oil industry charter.

They appeared to only make one short night stop, at Shannon, and by its sound the prop synchronisers are no longer perfect. Crew must have been knackered. 30 hours end to end.

[pax britanica]

Its extraordinarily really that two similar designs dating from the same time and aimed at the same role are still soldiering on today, the An12 and C130s designed in the 1950s ( I know the remaining ones were not made then) are still droning sluggishly across the skies of Europe and beyond. I suppose their construction for very rugged operational environments has helped kept them going

[WHBM]

Unfortunately right as we all write this thread one of the Ukraine Air Alliance An12s has been lost this morning in an approach accident at Lvov, Ukraine, while doing one of these trans-Europe charters. Originated at Vigo in Spain, which is where the Peugeot Spanish car plant is.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-49931753

Casualties reported, but photos show it looking survivable. Best wishes for the crew.

[Sobelena]

Casualties reported, but photos show it looking survivable. Best wishes for the crew

Early photos didn't show that the cockpit area was completely wrecked. 5 crew died.

[jensdad]

Which "dangerous parts" of Algeria?
I've seen them going to Ghardaia, which is in the bit in the Sahara desert mentioned in the FCO travel advice as follows:
The threat from terrorism is higher in some parts of the country:

the southern border (where the kidnap risk is concentrated)
the Libyan and Tunisian borders
rural, and particularly mountainous, areas in the north and between Tunisia and Algiers
the Sahara