Aviogenex Tupolevs
 

Was there any particular reason Aviogenex ordered the TU134 when their friends at JAT and Inex Adria were operating Western-built airliners such as the DC9 and Caravelle ? I imagine it was part of a wider trade deal involving the General Export organisation and the Soviet Union. Eventually, the Tupolevs were pensioned off and Aviogenex became an all-Boeing operator until it ceased trading.

"Friends at JAT and Inex Adria"?? Not sure about that. Yugoslavia was a federal nation made up of six republics, so think of theses airlines in that context and the subsequent spliting up of Yugoslavia

I didn't mean "friends" literally.

I remember one arriving at Glasgow in '72; touched down well past the mid point, brakes locked on and brake chute streamed.
After my runway inspection to make sure there were no lumps of rubber on the runway (just 2 continuous black lines) I went over and examined the holes in the tyres; don't think they could have had a re-tread after that.

Who repacked those brake chutes back then?

I think they brought ready packed 'chutes with them and just put the used one in the hold; that's what they told us when we had 3 early Caravelles in.

I didn't know the TU134 carried a brake chute. The early Caravelles did.

Early 134 had a chute, no thrust reversers, the 134A introduced upgraded engines with reversers so chute was removed.

Thanks Megan.

The flight engineer had the job of substituting the replacement chute, in the hold, for the original one. Engineers back at base packed them.

Aviogenex worked through two generations of Tu134, for 1969 they got three of the original spec Tu134 "no suffix" aircraft. These went back to Tupolev in early 1971 (ending up inevitably at Aeroflot), and were replaced by eventually nine Tu134A over the following several years. It was one of these latter ones, only weeks old, that was lost at Rijeka in early season 1971 with British holidaymakers, overturning on touchdown. The 134 had a notably swept wing, which may have been a handful on low speed touchdown.

Must have been an August Saturday morning in 1980 I saw three of them lined up on a remote stand facing Manchester airport terminal, with the uniformed crews (notably without ties) out on the tarmac in discussions with one another. I don't know if they were sufficiently into western aviation that they could get fuel on normal credit terms, rather than the senior captain having to come with a bagful of US Dollars.

Known as "export models", the aircraft supplied to Eastern European operators had a different fitout compared to Aeroflot aircraft, with a number of systems replaced by western products, especially the Bendix weather radar which replaced the Soviet-style glazed nose for the navigator.. The deals for sale of these were typically made at the Leipzig trade fair in the GDR each year. Besides the usual East European suspects, fleets were also sold to Vietnam, Syria, etc, and a 20-year life was quite common.

In terms of payment, Aviogenex were no different to any other airline. Only time I saw cash used was by the crew in the terminal shops... :ok:

The 134's wing had slight anhedral, can't think of another low wing jet type so designed other than its older siblings, the 104 and 124 - how did that effect its handling?

High amounts of sweep tends to produce a dihedral effect, so the designed in anhedral is there probably to counter act this. The wings on these have quite a lot of sweep compared to western designs.

I remember seeing a TU134 at Shannon in the '90s, which had left one of the thrust reversers on the runway after landing. The ring where it mounted on the back of the engine had cracked and failed.

Thanks DH106, always looked a bit odd to me!

The sweep on the 134 was 35°, same as the B707, compared to B727 32° and B747 37.5°Wonder why the difference in the Tu and Boeing.

35 degrees
 

Trident was similar.
High speed delight to fly even in cruise back from Athens with the autopilot U/S but a handful on approach which was flown on the backside of the drag curve with mandatory auto throttle which was typical of the time..analogue and sluggish.
In comparison with the DC9 51 the Trident had loads of elevator control so flaring wasn't a problem.
DC 9 autothrottle was better but it is much easier to fly an approach with manual throttle.
Aerodynamically swept wing stability is interesting as I played around (and still do) with model aircraft. Low speed pitch unstable but very stable in roll but at high speed extremely pitch stable.
Tupolov; went onto the flight deck on a parked one in Sofia which had the access for the navigator position (nose) where the throttles should be in the instrument panel. Rumour was that the aircraft commander sat behind the pilots.

Tunnel down to the nav position normally covered by a loose curtain (green, of course, like the rest of the flight deck, from a Soviet ergonomic study). On one occasion on a 134 an attempted hijacker entered the flight deck, had the pilots accounted for, but suddenly the nav sprang out from behind the curtain and did for him !

Various stories about a fixed spy camera in the glazed nose at the nav position, seen when parked, which turn out to be someone unable to tell the difference between a camera and the Soviet-era mounted celestial sextant.

This thread took me back. I think to the mid 1980's. I flew to Dubrovnik from LGW with Aviogenex on a TU-134. I remember nothing of the flight on the way out but when we returned to Gatwick, I distinctly remember some serious braking after touchdown. Felt like mechanical braking. It was so extreme that some of the passenger seats backs tipped all the way forward. I always wondered what happened there as it was quite violent. I don't recall the crew mentioning anything (at least not in English).

P.S. I still have a baggage tag with Aviogenex logo on it. :8

Blimey - you were brave :)
I thought I was brave enough flying out of Gatters in a Sabre Airways 727 :)